relative clauses

[Anonymous]

What is the correct form,

"We are a firm which prides itself on providing accurate..."
OR
"We are a firm who pride ourselves on providing accurate..."?

And what are the underlying rules? Is the second form "British" (use of the institutional plural, as in "The government are...")?

Thank you for any replies, tips, suggestions on where to find answers.

Sheila

 

[Tdol]

British English uses the plural for collective nouns more than American. As a BE speaker, I'd say both answers are possible, but 'that' sounds better. ;-)

 

[MikeNewYork]

What is the correct form,

"We are a firm which prides itself on providing accurate..."
OR
"We are a firm who pride ourselves on providing accurate..."?

And what are the underlying rules? Is the second form "British" (use of the institutional plural, as in "The government are...")?

Thank you for any replies, tips, suggestions on where to find answers.

Sheila

It gets a bit confusing when one starts with "we are a firm".

In AE, we would more likely say:

This is a firm that prides
Our firm prides

:wink: