Companies are singular
A company may be made up of many employees, but it is legally and grammatically a single entity. Always use singular verbs with companies, even when the company name sounds plural. The same applies to countries, political parties, governments and partnerships. All are singular.
There is a feeling in some circles that using they instead of it makes your writing more personal. Maybe. But being grammatically incorrect makes your writing and, more importantly, your meaning, unclear. Resist all temptation to treat companies as plurals.
Better writing
Good clear writing is readily understandable and unambiguous. Great writers ensure there are as few barriers as possible between their message and their audience. They help ideas flow smoothly.
I don’t claim to be a great writer, but I’ve made a decent living for the last 30 years from being a competent journalist. Along the way I’ve learnt a thing or two. Most of my writing is in what we in the trade call newspaper style.
Newspapers and magazines or publishing companies usually have their own style books which lay out a set of rules – mainly for the sake of consistency. They differ from paper to paper, town to town and country to country, yet many of the best ideas are common to most, if not all, style books.
This is the first of a series of my tips to help you become a better writer. You don’t have to follow them all. You don’t have to agree with any of them. But reading them will help you think about your writing and that will improve matters.
If you need a writer to help communicate your message, please contact me.
- The inverted pyramid
- Keeping it simple
- And can start a sentence
- Adjectives: use fewer
- Capital letters
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[...] Better writing: Companies are singular [...]
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7 May 09 at 6:01 pm
[...] Writing style tips: 1. Companies are singular (billbennettnz.wordpress.com) [...]
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26 May 09 at 6:00 pm
[...] Writing style tips: 1. Companies are singular (billbennettnz.wordpress.com) [...]
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5 Jun 09 at 5:07 am
Agreed. Company is a singular entity.
Anthony Caruana
27 Jul 09 at 7:33 pm
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Bill Bennett, Ashley Campbell. Ashley Campbell said: RT @billbennettnz: Would it be rude of me to point out companies are singular? http://bit.ly/3GxxsX Not at all http://bit.ly/2PzRZJ [...]
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18 Nov 09 at 9:36 am