Team have or has won??

[Anniebee]

Hi all,

In my daughter´s English text book there is an exercise, title being

Local Team Wins Basketball league.....then it goes on to state.....

The local team have won.......,
Question is with the word team do we use the 3rd person singular or plural???

To me both sound correct but I´m unsure.

Annie

[Casiopea]

Both are used. It depends on whether you view the team as a unit (it has; usually, American English usage) or as individuals within the unit (they have; usually, British English usage).

All the best.

[MrPedantic]

In BrE usage, much depends on the context. Thus you might easily hear, from the same football commentator:

1. The team is doing well this season.
2. The team are running out onto the pitch.

MrP

[Anniebee]

Thank you that explains why they both sound fine to me, well explained.

Annie

[pedant]

Both are in common usage, it depends on whether you want to refer to the team as a unit or the team as a collection of individuals.

The really big annoyance is when one particular standard is set by self appointed bodies to the extent that the other usage is barred. When writing for scientific journals one MUST say "these data WERE collected" instead of "this data was collected" on the grounds that "data" is the plural of datum, not a collection as used in everyday speech by normal people.

It sounds absolutely awful! But then again, the 'English' academics don't have to read it all the time, sadly, the scientific academics do!

[Humble]

Hi,
I've just been studying subject-verb agreement in depth.
Teams usually require the plural, even if their location represents them:
If England win, they will....
I've only heard the plural for teams on BBC World TV.
As far as I know, in AmE the singular is much more common in similar cases.

[BobK]

In BrE usage, much depends on the context. Thus you might easily hear, from the same football commentator:
1. The team is doing well this season.
2. The team are running out onto the pitch.
MrP

In that case, the speaker in (1) is thinking of an item (a line in a league table) and the speaker in (2) is thinking of a number of people. Similarly,

The enemy is gathering all along the Western Front (one hostile presence)

but

The enemy are coming over the hill (a number of soldiers)

b

[MrPedantic]

As far as I know, in AmE the singular is much more common in similar cases.

I think you're right – there were many examples in US newspapers' coverage of the World Cup last year, which had a very strange effect, if you were used to BrE football writing. (And on one occasion, I'm sure I saw "...Chelsea, the League Champion, is...".)

In that case, the speaker in (1) is thinking of an item (a line in a league table) and the speaker in (2) is thinking of a number of people.

MrP

[pedant]

I'm sure I saw "...Chelsea, the League Champion, is...".)
MrP

This is perfectly acceptable. As in all English, there are always missing words that can be added, but don't really need to be so, and one or many different interpretations can be assumed depending on what mood YOU are in.

Chelsea (the club), the League Champion (club), is....

or Chelsea (the team), the League Champions (the people), are....