[net.nlang] "United States"

john@cisden.UUCP (John Woolley) (01/08/86)

Does anyone have an eighteenth- or nineteenth-century quotation using
the phrase "the United States" as a singular noun?  It always used to
be plural, but now it's nearly always singular.  When did it change?
-- 
				Peace and Good!,
				      Fr. John Woolley
"The heart has its reasons that the mind does not know." -- Blaise Pascal

ark@alice.UucP (Andrew Koenig) (01/12/86)

> Does anyone have an eighteenth- or nineteenth-century quotation using
> the phrase "the United States" as a singular noun?  It always used to
> be plural, but now it's nearly always singular.  When did it change?
> -- 
>				Peace and Good!,
>				      Fr. John Woolley
> "The heart has its reasons that the mind does not know." -- Blaise Pascal

I have seen several instances that lead me to believe that the normal
usage in England is to use plural forms to agree with, say, names of
corporations.  "IBM are introducing a new product."

rjw@ptsfc.UUCP (Rod Williams) (01/14/86)

In article <383@cisden.UUCP> john@cisden.UUCP (John Woolley) writes:
>Does anyone have an eighteenth- or nineteenth-century quotation using
>the phrase "the United States" as a singular noun?  It always used to
>be plural, but now it's nearly always singular.  When did it change?

 Thanks to Bartlett's Quotations, how about:

 "The United States has thirty-two religions but only one dish"
                      - Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord (1754-1838)
-- 

 rod williams | {ihnp4,dual}!ptsfa!ptsfc!rjw
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