What is the proper grammar for the following phrase?

Question

Do you use the verb is or are for words like "staff" or "ICU nurses?

ICU staff are well suited for job-focused learning since much of their job utilizes a significant knowledge base in critical care nursing.

Answer 1

staff is
nurses are

workforce is
workers are

team is
team members are

has to do with singular and plural
your question is mixed because one of the words is
singular and one is plural.

sometimes usage gets weird.
like data and datum
data was originally plural...so it should be data is
but everyone says data are...
it gets used as a plural...
words evolve and change. this is one place that is possibly changing.

Answer 2

when using ICU Nurses this is definetly plural so totally use are.
for staff it's trickier. you could only have one person on the staff, and you say "the" staff which sounds pretty singular. Go by the individual case and make sure it makes sense in the sentence when you read it out loud

Answer 3

The staff is fabulous.
The ICU staff is fabulous.
Staff is singular.

The nurses are fabulous.
The ICU nurses are fabulous.
The word Nurses is plural.


Plural is a grammatical number, typically referring to more than one of the referent in the real world.

In the English language, singular and plural are the only grammatical numbers.

Answer 4

Both 'is' and 'are' can be used, but in different contexts for staff.
The staff IS lazy.
The staff ARE divided in their opinion

When you are referring to each member of the staff individually, it will be 'are', and when you are using it as a single commodity, it will be 'is'.


ICU nurses will always take an 'are', never ever an 'is'.

Answer 5

They are ICU nurses.

The staff one depends on how it is used in the scentence. like "that is the staff for that company" or "the are the staff members"

Answer 6

the staff is / the icu nurses are

Answer 7

generally the word "staff" refers to a plural so you use "are". the same goes for ICU nurses.
"the staff is" is incorrect, unless there is only one staff member.

Answer 8

the staff is
the ICU nurses are

Answer 9

the staff is...

the ICU nurses are...

Answer 10

You forgot the phrase - but

They ARE ICU nurses

and

that is OUR staff

I hope this helps.