2006-06-24 01:10:59 · 12 answers · asked by mavijadi 1 in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
the John DOe family are
the pronoun is THEY , coz they are a family , a group more than one person.
2006-06-24 01:19:18 · answer #1 · answered by yolla 3 · 2⤊ 2⤋
It depends on the rest of the sentence. Eg. The John Doe Family is large. The John Doe Family are coming to visit.
2006-06-26 01:34:09 · answer #2 · answered by Rachel O 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
If you take out the descriptive words "john doe", then the sentence would read "the family is", because family is single, not plural. So the correct way to say it is "the john doe family is..."
2006-06-24 08:20:27 · answer #3 · answered by rosecitylady 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
As your first answerer said, it depends on the context. But 'are' is usually right, 'is' is only right sometimes- if you're talking about the family as a unit. (It's probably better to use 'are' in this sort of sentence if you're not sure!)
You could say -
"The John Doe family is too snooty by far."
Because you are talking about 1 unit - even though it consists of several people. You could also use 'are' for this sort of statement, because the unit does consist of several people.
"The John Doe family are all a bit overweight."
Because you are talking about individuals, not 1 unit.
2006-06-24 08:26:40 · answer #4 · answered by _ 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
People speaking American English will usually believe "IS" to be the correct usage.
People speaking British English most often believe "ARE" is the correct usage here.
This is because "FAMILY" is a collective noun, and Americans usually use singular verbs for collective nouns, whereas British people prefer to employ plural verbs with collective nouns.
See the reference below.
2006-06-25 14:24:31 · answer #5 · answered by X 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
"is": "John Doe" is an adjective modifying "family" which is singular. If you had: "The John Doe and Bill Jones families...", you would use "are" since, in that case, "families" is plural.
2006-06-24 11:12:03 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I am no english major but look at any word as a whole: if the word is single, even if it is a group, as in family, then you would use is, if the noun is plural, as in families, then you would use are.......simple as that......hope this helps
2006-06-24 08:15:47 · answer #7 · answered by caperpuma 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Family is
Families are
family is singular noun meaning more than one person
like
crowd is
not crowd are
2006-06-24 11:13:07 · answer #8 · answered by Library Eyes 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
"Is" is the correct word. The pronoun is actually "it" in reference to "family". I don't think you could ever correctly say "the family are" as you would be saying "it are" and not "they are".
2006-06-24 09:04:33 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
is, a family is said to be one complete unit
2006-07-01 03:28:47 · answer #10 · answered by lordscu 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋