"European Commission" with a plural verb

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Rachel Adams

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Hello.

Is it wrong to use the plural verb with "European Commission"?
"European Commission are disappointed with the recent research."
 

Yankee

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AminMoss

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It's correct. Plural nouns like this can go with both plural and singular verbs although the plural seems to be more common in British English.
 

PeterCW

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It's correct. Plural nouns like this can go with both plural and singular verbs although the plural seems to be more common in British English.

I would use the singular.
 

Charlie Bernstein

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To Americans, it can only be singular. To Brits, it seems to be okay to treat it as singular or plural.

I don't know how they decide.

And yes, you left out The.
 

Tdol

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This is not the case in BrE- it's OK to use the team/government/band/company/European Commission with a plural verb/
 

Tdol

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I don't know how they decide.

I would use the singular with company if it were being sold (a singular entity) but the plural if talking about what it (made up of people) were doing. However, there are plenty of cases where we don't decide and either could be used.
 
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