[Grammar] Liverpool ARE or LIverpool IS?

[TicoInBrazil]

"Fernando Torres Admits Liverpool Are A Bigger Club Than Chelsea "


is that correct? since its a football (soccer) club wouldnt it be more correct to say "Liverpool IS a bigger club than...."

I got it from here:

http://sportifi.com/news/Fernando-T...m-For-Football-At-Anfield-Goalcom-687926.html

 

[buggles]

"Fernando Torres Admits Liverpool Are A Bigger Club Than Chelsea "


is that correct? since its a football (soccer) club wouldnt it be more correct to say "Liverpool IS a bigger club than...."

I got it from here:

Fernando Torres Admits Liverpool Are A Bigger Club Than Chelsea But He Lost His Enthusiasm For Football At Anfield (Goal.com) - Fernando Torres News

This is a common, but increasingly accepted, misuse of English.

Clearly you are correct. "Club" is singular and should be accompanied by the singular "is". However, it's become increasingly common to treat singular group nouns as plural (thus referring to the members of the group collectively) especially when associated with sport.

So you'll often see....

The team are training hard.
The side are arriving by bus.
The club are considering a bid for a new striker .

........and so on.

We might not like it, but it's become acceptable through usage.

buggles (not a teacher)

 

[5jj]

This is a common, but increasingly accepted, misuse of English.

It is not a misuse in BrE.

The Fowlers, those arch-prescriptivists, wrote, over a century ago: “[…] nouns of multitude may be freely used with either a singular or a plural verb, or be referred to by pronouns of singular or plural meaning …”. Their words are still true of British English in 2011.

Fowler, H W and Fowler, F G, (1906) The King’s English, Oxford: Clarendon Press.

 

[TicoInBrazil]

thank you very much those members that replied to my post