Marcos
Is a company Singular or Plural?
A company is a brand and is conformed by a group of people. I'm confused with a sentence I'm writing:

"Apple is a company ahead other companies because they have created amazing and unique products"

What's your opinion about this topic?
Jul 13, 2020 8:44 PM
Comments · 4
3
“Company” is almost always singular in American English, as it is singular in form — formal agreement. In British English, it is usually plural, as they have in mind the fact that a company includes multiple people — notional agreement. The same is true of “band”, “family”, etc.

July 13, 2020
2
Is 'company' singular or plural? It's singular, but that doesn't mean that your sentence is wrong.

As Phil says, this is an example of notional agreement.

In British English, we often use plural grammar for singular collective nouns when we're referring to the individuals which make up that group. In your sentence, it is fine to use 'they': this refers to the people in the company who have created the products.

A common example of notional agreement is when we are talking about sports teams. Read or listen to any sports news from a UK source and you'll see plenty of sentences such as 'Manchester United have won the cup".
July 13, 2020
2
“Apple is a company that is ahead of other companies because Apple has created its own amazing and unique products.”

Think of the word company as the word group. Even though it is made up of multiple people and things, it can be talked about in terms of one single group, one company. However, when referring to multiple companies, the word is plural in the same way that groups or corporations or countries is.
July 13, 2020
company is singular, companies is plural
July 13, 2020