supervise staff of,a staff of,the staff of

**ostap77** · 11-Sep-2012, 10:48

If I were a boss,would I say "I supervise A)staff of, B)a staff of, C)the staff of 5"?

B) would come first and A) second on my answer sheet. What do you think? Would there be other expressions to mean the same thing?

**bhaisahab** · 11-Sep-2012, 10:50

Originally Posted by ostap77

If I were a boss,would I say "I supervise A)staff of, B)a staff of, C)the staff of 5"?

B) would come first and A) second on my answer sheet. What do you think?

B) and C) are correct, A) is not.

**ostap77** · 11-Sep-2012, 10:53

So in this particular phrase staff can't be noncountable as in "We have 20 people on staff"?

**bhaisahab** · 11-Sep-2012, 10:55

Originally Posted by ostap77

So in this particular phrase staff can't be non-countable as in "We have 20 people on staff"?

"We have 20 people on staff" This is unnatural. "We have a staff of twenty (people)" is better.

**Barb_D** · 11-Sep-2012, 13:11

"We have 20 people on staff" is very normal in American business English. (So is "We have a staff of 20 people.")

**emsr2d2** · 11-Sep-2012, 18:45

In BrE, we would use "We have/There are 20 people on the staff".

**ostap77** · 12-Sep-2012, 10:08

So I'll put my question once again. Could I use the noun "staff" in its noncountable meaning as in "to supervise staff off....."?

**bhaisahab** · 12-Sep-2012, 11:27

Originally Posted by ostap77

So I'll put my question once again. Could I use the noun "staff" in its noncountable meaning as in "to supervise staff off....."?

I presume you mean "of" not "off". In my opinion, no you can't say "I supervise staff of ten".

**Barb_D** · 12-Sep-2012, 12:13

Nor can you in American business English.

**ostap77** · 12-Sep-2012, 12:39

Thank you for your patience and effort!

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