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Team USA is the exception
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The 2024 Olympics start next week, and we’re continuing our series on Olympic-themed writing tips. Last week we covered capitalization, and this week we’re discussing another subject that can be confusing and inconsistent: subject-verb agreement. We’ve told you before about how to decide whether collective nouns, such as team, take singular or plural verbs. If the group is acting as a unit, use singular verbs: The team is working to improve its penalty rate. Team names, however, take plural verbs, even when the team being named is acting as a unit: The Dallas Cowboys are going to win the game. But what would an English language rule be without exceptions? Don’t apply this rule about team names to Team USA, which takes singular verbs: Team USA is leading in the medal count. And you might have already noticed that we’ve implicitly answered another Olympic-themed question about subject-verb agreement throughout this series when we use plural verbs with “Olympics” (glance above to the first sentence of this newsletter to see what we mean). What other questions about subject-verb agreement can we help you with? Hit reply and let us know. ❤ Team Stylebot
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Hone your writing skills and never use "hone in" again. Get writing tips, have fun with words and learn something new in a one-minute read each week by signing up for Stylebot’s newsletter.
If you’re reading this newsletter, you probably already understand the importance of word choice, especially in news coverage. Just last week we covered language surrounding abortion, for example. Choosing your words carefully when you're covering political or social topics often carries extra importance. But it’s not just these big “vocabulary words,” such as antiabortion or pro-abortion rights, that matter. Our friends at Trusting News, whom we’re partnering with to update our style guide...
Writing about abortion is a good reminder of why language matters. In fact, the terms “pro-choice” and “pro-life” are so well known that they scarcely need explanation. But the reason you know the terms so well is precisely the point: They are the preferred terms of advocates, who choose their words carefully to frame the issue in a way that advances their arguments. With the 2024 election on the horizon, we’re devoting some issues of this newsletter to writing about election-related topics....
Football season is nearly upon us, with the NFL wrapping up its preseason games this weekend. To celebrate, we're resharing one of the first editions of this newsletter, in which we weave together football and grammar. Enjoy! NFL referees may know the rules of football, but they clearly need to up their grammar game. If you’re a football fan, you’re likely familiar with the phrase, “After reviewing the play, the ruling on the field stands.” And if you’re not, we’ll catch you up: When NFL...