第2个回答 2010-08-09
真的很混乱,尤其是你不知道那是美国英语或英国英语时....
(A) 英国英语: "collective nouns" (集体名词)如family, the family, my family, the enemy, Police, the government, the team, the public, the committee = 都是复数,用are/were/they/them....
例: (i)"My family are always fighting among themselves."
(ii) "The family are all on holiday."
(B) 美国英语分为两部分: (1)单数:
例:(i)"The family was united on this question." (全家成员视为一体时)
(ii)"His family has lived in Massachusetts since the Mayflower."
(2)复数:例子如上(英国英语).
(C) 注意:我们不能混用单复数如下:
(i)"the family is[单] well and send their[复] best wishes (错)
(ii) "the family is单 well and sends its单 best wishes/the family are复 all well and send their复 best wishes." (正确)
(D) 注意句子内有或没有 "all",或 "members of the family", 或"family members"...你就可以猜中是复数或单数了; "family" 的复数是 "families"(这很清楚).
(E)如果老师是英国人, 你可以当全都是复数.如果老师是美国人,那要依靠我们积累的经验啦!
因此语文要进步,我们必须多阅读.No short cut!(没有捷径的)