tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26430717.post5701344822203984898..comments2023-05-05T06:08:12.386-04:00Comments on Maieutica: an anthropological study of "garage sapien"danielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06793750767455283307noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26430717.post-26931834195622652962007-06-09T12:48:00.000-04:002007-06-09T12:48:00.000-04:001. Collective nouns: in practice, I think it depen...1. Collective nouns: in practice, I think it depends on the situation. For example, if I'm talking about the first presidency as an entity (e.g. "The first presidency consists of the prophet and his two counselors."), I will use verbs appropriate to the entity in question (i.e. the above example is "the first presidency consists of" instead of "the brethren in the first presidency consist of"). <BR/>However, when I talk about the first presidency as a collection of men, I might get into to trouble if I assign the appropriate verb to the entity rather than to that of which it consists. <BR/>For example, I would say, "The first presidency are eating at the Joseph Smith Memorial." I wouldn't say (or perhaps shouldn't say), "The first presidency is eating at the Joseph Smith Memorial." A first presidency isn't a biological organism and shouldn't be referred to as eating something. <BR/>That seems right to me. <BR/><BR/>2. The picture: It is of the death of Socrates.danielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06793750767455283307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26430717.post-74072974215748397892007-06-09T11:20:00.000-04:002007-06-09T11:20:00.000-04:00Who's that a picture of? Should I know?Who's that a picture of? Should I know?Russellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08496434142845508731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26430717.post-81229660702731588402007-05-23T00:55:00.000-04:002007-05-23T00:55:00.000-04:00Just in case your sentiment regarding Garage Sapie...Just in case your sentiment regarding Garage Sapien isn't entirely positive, I would like to remind you that the entire Porter female clan are card-carrying members. When Saturday rolls around and there are 2 or more gathered together, there the Garage Sale is, in the midst of them, as it were.<BR/>Incedentally, how do you feel about using plural conjugations of verbs for collective nouns? Some people say, "The first presidency <I>are</I> united," while others say, "The first presidency <I>is</I> united." Where do you stand?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com