Kevin Wayne Williams wrote:
> Louise Bremner wrote:
> 
>>Gerry <222ggg@adelphia.net.invalid> wrote:
>>
>>>>But recently I learned that "the bank are pressing me for
>>>>repayment" is grammatical, ...
>>>
>>>How can that be grammatically correct?  Bank is singular. 
>>
>>It's short for "the people at the bank are pressing me...". You don't
>>seriously imagine that the building itself is doing this, do you? But it
>>is correct to say "the bank is at the corner of the street." 
>>
>>>>...so I don't feel confident in detecting
>>>>Americans' bad grammar anymore. :-) 
>>>
>>I thought it was British usage, though.
> 
> It isn't American. I have only heard this usage of the words for
> corporations and businesses as plurals from British folks. I don't think
> that Aussies say it that way, either.

Must be a British only thang. I had never heard of it before either and 
was a bit perplexed by Rafael's and Louise's postings, discounted to 
some extent by the knowledge that I know SFA about grammar anyway. Why 
it was not also exported by the poms to strayan speech is also a bit 
perplexing - perhaps its a relatively recent construct?




-- 
A hand on the bush is worth two birds on the arm.