Do you say "the United States is very big" or "the United States are very big"?
2006-08-12 15:05:34 · 17 answers · asked by Belindita 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Tricky, isn't it? As the United States is usually short for 'the United States of America' it is singular, and takes the 3rd person singular form of a verb 'to be' = is.
2006-08-12 15:49:36 · answer #1 · answered by J9 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
The United States IS very big...you are talking about A country
2006-08-12 15:08:29 · answer #2 · answered by diana_mulata 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You would use the word 'is' because it is singular. Are is only used if the noun is plural. United States is singular because it is one country. It really depends on the context of the sentence though. The United States is very big; that refers to the United States as a whole as one country, but 'The United States are very big' refers to each state as being large in area, but some states are very small so it could be seen as a false statement.
2006-08-12 15:15:33 · answer #3 · answered by Nate 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The United States is big, or the united states are of varying sizes.
2006-08-12 15:10:19 · answer #4 · answered by Davie 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
This is sort of the hair or the hairs question.
In Portuguese 'dos' or 'nos' is used for 'in the USA' or 'of the USA' indicating plural but I had an English teacher tell me once that if it sounds right use it and 90% of the time you will be right. The United States of America is a democracy ... The United States are in BIG trouble with the debt... no. no the United States IS in big Trouble....
2006-08-12 15:17:05 · answer #5 · answered by gingerv 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The grammatically correct way is, "The United States are...", since they are plural. They are many states united into one nation. However, over time it has been used and accepted as one. So now we hear, "That the United States is going to (do something)".
2006-08-12 15:14:43 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
The United States refers to one country so you would use the singular, "is."
2006-08-12 15:30:30 · answer #7 · answered by karen g 1 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It depends...if you are refering to it as United States the country it is 'is'. But if you ar refering to it as United States as 50 seperate states. it is 'are'
2006-08-12 15:10:24 · answer #8 · answered by graygirl 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
the completed call is "usa of united statesa.." i'm no longer particular the position you've got heard that united statesa. isn't the call of my usa. that is not authentic. human beings call it both with the aid of its finished call, america, united statesa., the U.S., or the united statesA. it must be like affirming that the country on the bottom of the African continent might want to no longer call itself South Africa, because Africa is the call of the continent.
2016-11-30 00:20:48 · answer #9 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
in american english, we'd say the united states is. in england, the united states are...as well as in foreign languages, the US always takes the plural conjugation.
2006-08-12 18:37:27 · answer #10 · answered by floppyduck339 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋