et al. use

[panosgr]

Hello all,

i know that et al. has been discussed generally, however i couldn't find what i wanted (and the search suggests that there are so many results about it that it doesn't even bother to show them!). I know when "et al." is used and where the period goes, etc, but i don't know whether the verb that follows it should refer to one person or the whole group

So, in the following example should i use suggests to refer to Silverstein (and imply that he did not do that on its own, thus the et al. use) or say suggest to refer to what the whole group suggests?

Silverstein et al. suggests (or suggest?) that blah blah

I hope this makes sense, thanks a lot!

[SoothingDave]

I am not a teacher.

Use a plural verb. "Et" means "And." You are saying Silverstein and others do something.

So treat is like that. Silverstein et al. suggest.

[Linguist__]

(Not a teacher)

I agree with SoothingDave. Also, it isn't incorrect to talk about citations in the past - 'Silverstein et al. suggested...'. I italicise things that aren't English, but that's just my own preference.

[panosgr]

thanks a lot, that helps