[Grammar] The Beatles are a great band.

[beachboy]

1 - The Rolling Stones is a great band.
2 - The Rolling Stones are a great band.
3 - Queen is a great band.
4 - Queen are a great band.

Which sentences are right?

 

[Roman55]

Whether they're right or not is a matter of opinion, but I would say that they are all correct. If I were to replace the name of one of these bands with a pronoun, I would invariably use they, rather than it, so the plural verb would go without saying. When you use the name, the singular becomes possible, but the plural still works.

 

[SoothingDave]

In the US, we would tend to follow the name itself.

"Stones" is plural, so "are."

"Queen" is singular, so "is."

 

[Tdol]

In most contexts in BrE, I hear the plural used nowadays.

 

[beachboy]

And I suppose the same applies to sport teams. "When it comes to soccer, Barcelona are the best".

 

[GoesStation]

And I suppose the same applies to sport teams. "When it comes to soccer, Barcelona are the best".

We use the singular in American English.

 

[emsr2d2]

With sports teams, there's a lack of agreement/consistency even within one variant. I would say:

Barcelona is the best team in Spain.
Barcelona have won the cup three times.

 

[jutfrank]

We use the singular in American English.

But surely not when the name uses a plural form (which is very common) and acts as a subject, right? I assume only the second is correct in the pairs below.

The Bulls is winning.
The Bulls are winning.

The Lakers is my favorite team.
The Lakers are my favorite team.

 

[beachboy]

And what if I place the name of the team or band at the end of the sentence? The same rules?

1 - The only team that can beat Lakers are Chicago Bulls.
2 - The only team that can beat Real Madrid is Barcelona.
3 - One band that I don't like anymore is The Who.
4 - The band that most pleases me have always been The Beatles.

 

[SoothingDave]

But surely not when the name uses a plural form (which is very common) and acts as a subject, right?

He meant with city names. Always singular form.

 

[GoesStation]

But surely not when the name uses a plural form (which is very common) and acts as a subject, right? I assume only the second is correct in the pairs below.

The Bulls is winning.
The Bulls are winning.

The Lakers is my favorite team.
The Lakers are my favorite team.

Yes, that's right. I was only addressing Barcelona as a team name.

 

[GoesStation]

And what if I place the name of the team or band at the end of the sentence? The same rules?

1 - The only team that can beat the Lakers [STRIKE]are[/STRIKE] is the Chicago Bulls.
2 - The only team that can beat Real Madrid is Barcelona.:tick:
3 - One band that I don't like anymore is The Who.:tick:
4 - The band that most pleases me [STRIKE]have[/STRIKE] has always been The Beatles.

Sentences one and four need singular verbs because their subjects, team and band, are singular.

 

[Tdol]

3 - One band that I don't like anymore are The Who

I may be out on a limb on this, but this works for me.

 

[Tdol]

I am pluralman.