Is or are?

[treeroy]

Hi,

My friend and I are having an argument about whether 'are' or 'is' should be used in a certain context. I'm not sure how I'd define the context but here are a couple of examples:

- "Tottenham are moving to a new stadium."
- "Black Veil Brides are an American rock band."

In both of these examples, I believe the word is should be used instead of are, because while the band and team do consist of multiple players, they themselves are singular. I insisted that it's "the team is", because there's only one team, but my friend won't listen, because the team is made up of players.

In the second instance, the person with whom I was arguing believed that it should be "Black Veil Brides are", because 'brides are' is correct; however, I said we aren't referring to brides, but rather the (singular) band.

I'm certain I am right.... right?
Can anyone help?

 

[Boris Tatarenko]

Not a teacher nor a native speaker.

Both are correct.

 

[Rover_KE]

Welcome to the forums, treeroy.

I would use 'are' in both sentences.

 

[Barb_D]

Americans *tend* to use the singular for teams or bands when the name is singular and the plural when the name is plural.

Devo was a fun band.
The Eagles have many classic songs.

The Heat is struggling this year.
The Pistons haven't had a good year in ages.

Note "tend" - there are few absolutes.
Passion Pit is one of my daughter's favorite bands but I think they make a lot of noise. -- Notice the singular and plural in the same sentence.

 

[MikeNewYork]

As Barb pointed out, in AmE we tend to use the single for collectives unless the collective word is plural. In BrE, the tendency is to use the plural for groups of individuals.

I would use the singular for both of your examples. But I also agree with Barb's sentence that switches to "they" when talking about the noise.

So, in AmE English you will mostly hear "The (Miami) Heat is playing tonight", but "The (New York) Knicks are playing tonight". You will rarely, if ever, hear "Chicago are playing tonight" or "Cleveland are playing". If you said that in the US, you would get a strange look.

 

[Roman55]

I am not a teacher.

I would say:

Tottenham are moving to a new stadium."
Black Veil Brides is an American rock band."

 

[Tdol]

Roman, is that because of a band? Would you say Black Veil Brides is/are playing tonight?

 

[Roman55]

I am not a teacher.

Yes, probably because of a band.

I would say Black Veil Brides are playing tonight.

I agree with Barb when she says, "Passion Pit is one of my daughter's favorite bands but I think they make a lot of noise." I am sure I would say that in the same way.