is or are

"Hi!
I'm having a slight problem understanding the use of 'is' and 'are' with words such as 'family', 'people', etc...
Which version is correct?
1. My family is at the seaside.
2. My family are at the seaside.

Thanks,"

For me the first version is correct because "family"
is singular, as a whole.

are sie uzywa
milego dnia

Both forms are possible, but the first one is used
more frequently

Both forms are correct. You use 'is' if you think about a family as one '.thing' but if you mean several people who are from your family you use 'are'. The same situation is with police, staff, government, etc.

you're dead wrong - we always use 'are' with 'police', not 'is' - it's an aggregate, not a collective noun (just like cattle, people)


ps. archeolog przyszly czy terazniejszy?

archeolog przyszly czy terazniejszy?

Technically - zapewne przeszly, bo to juz wczorajszy wpis. Ale wykopalisko cenne, bo az z 2002 roku!

Pakk, what are you doing up at this ungodly hour? Greetings for the sleepless.

>Pakk, what are you doing up at this ungodly hour? Greetings for the
>sleepless.

I don't know what he is doing, but I can't sleep. :O

>Pakk, what are you doing up at this ungodly hour? Greetings for the
>sleepless.

>I don't know what he is doing, but I can't sleep.

Me too, that's the thing.
Greeting for my cosufferers again.

either, greetings?

ok, "me either" is very informal. But, I think "me too" is incorrect and would say "Neither can I" instead.

What do you think?

>you're dead wrong - we always use 'are' with 'police', not 'is' -
>it's an aggregate, not a collective noun (just like cattle, people)
people Show phonetics

group noun [C]
1 all the men, women and children who live in a particular country:
The French are known as a food-loving people.

zobacz w słowniku cambridge.

Poza tym z 'police' też może być 'is'.

Not always is it an aggregate as you may see.

Yep, you're right - I should have written 'nor me' or 'me neither' instead of 'me too'.

'Neither can I' sounds somewhat formal to me.

And can I say 'me either' at all, meaning 'neither can I'?

Owszem, ale tu mowa jest o drugim znaczeniu 'people' - lud/nacja/narod (wtedy wlasnie jest policzalne to slowo).

Zas z 'police' uczono mnie, ze tylko 'are' - fora zdaja sie to potwierdzac, uzycie juz niekoniecznie.

Vide: http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwesl/egw/nouns/plural.htm
http://www.englishforums.com/English/AggregateCollectiveNouns/dzrqp/Post.htm