# EN: company - that/which/who, it/they, its/their - singular / plural



## delphine_t

Bonjour tout le monde,

Je me pose une question concernant les adjectifs possessifs anglais. Lorque l'on parle du plan media d'une entreprise par exemple, est-ce bien *its *media plan que l'on doit utiliser ?

Merci d'avance


*Moderator note:* Multiple threads have been merged to create this one.


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## emma42

Je pense que oui.  Est-ce que tu peux nous donner une phrase entière?


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## delphine_t

The whole sentence is in French (for information, i am writing to an advertising agency) : Avez-vous des nouvelles concernant leur plan média ? 

Thanks!


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## emma42

Oui, tu peux utiliser "its" ou "theirs".  Cependant, la première chose qui vient à l'esprit est "theirs".  Cela dépendrait du style d'écriture de la lettre.


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## sound shift

"Leur plan média" = "Their media plan".


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## jann

You should be aware that there are differences between British and American usage on this point. 

In American English, a company is treated as singular --> Company X and its media plan
In British English, a company is treated as plural --> Company X and their media plan

[…]


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## Maître Capello

Voici un autre lien sur le même sujet. (Je m'étais moi-même posé cette question ! )


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## Bro38

Je ne sais jamais, lorsque je parle d'une Entreprise, en Anglais si je doit dire "its employees" ou "his employees" c'est mon état actuel.... merci à tous ceux qui comme moi ne dorment pas la nuit et "travaillent"
Bro38

I'll write in english as well: I'm very confused because I don't know if when talking or writing of Company, should I say "its employees" or "His employees"? It seems stupid, but I don't seem to work it out. Thanks in advance for any help this is exactly how I feel right now....!
bb
Bro38


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## Calga

You would say 'its employees' because a firm is an entity, not a person.

                                           Best Wishes.


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## AFrenchGuy

Hello everyone,

I have an english cover letter to write, and doubt surrounds me. Sorry if this has already been asked, but i have trouble searching posts involving such common words. 

The issue is to choose between *that*, *who* and *which*. Here is the complete sentence, where i first wrote *that* :

_For the past two years i've been working as a DSP engineer in a french enterprise *that* design audio processing devices._

Thank you all.


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## phosphore

[…]

_That_ is correct in this context.


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## mezzrai

To clarify general use, _which_ can only be used to refer to non-human things (objects, companies, animals) and _who_ can only be used to refer to humans (or, more generally, sentient beings). _Which _and_ who_ can be used regardless of whether the dependent clause is necessary to the meaning of the sentence (restrictive).

_That_ is generally preferred to _which _or _who_ when the dependent clause is restrictive (as I would say it is here, as it identifies the company for which you work), and _cannot_ be used when the dependent clause is unnecessary (non-restrictive). Thus:

"I work at a company _that_ designs audio processing devices." (correct)
*"The audio processors, _that_ I enjoy designing, have been a successful product." (incorrect, should be _which_)


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## mezzrai

[…]

The reason you find results for "company who makes" is that a company is essentially a large group of people, so occasionally someone will use _who_ in reference to a company (or a music band, or anything else of a similar nature). This usage is not a real mistake, but it is somewhat less correct in formal writing than _which_.


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## mOLe`

La traduction de "son" dans ce contexte me turlupine.

"_Pfizer domine le monde pharmaceutique grâce à *son* offre diversifiée de médicaments._"

J'essaye de savoir si je dois dire "its" ou "their", car je sais que si je dis la phrase suivante :
"_La police est venue avec *ses* fusils à pompe_"
Je traduirai alors par :
"_The police came with *their* shotguns_" et non "_*its* shotguns_"

Pourriez-vous me dire comment vous traduiriez la phrase sur Pfizer ?

Merci d'avance pour votre aide !


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## lucas-sp

Here it would be "its." There's no sense of multiplicity (i.e. "lots of individual policemen") in "Pfizer" in this context.


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## mOLe`

I will keep that in mind in the future because that's something I have never had to translate before, at least in this case.
Thanks for the answer lucas-sp, that was fast!


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## Maître Capello

Americans prefer a singular while most Britons would use a plural. See also the following threads:

EN: the police - plural collective noun
pronoun for a company/firm - English Only forum

P.S.: I've merged your thread with an other one on the same topic.


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## Sicaire

Bonjour, je souhaite savoir comment conjuguer le verbe "wish" lorsqu'une société souhaite les voeux de fin d'année. Une sté est-elle considérée comme la 3è personne (wishes) ou comme un groupe de personnes, ce qui me semble plus logique (wish) ?
Merci et bon Noël et bonne année
Thank you, merry Xmas & a happy new year


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## Cephlanot

The company wishes you ...
The employees wish you ...


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## Transfer_02

I agree but...  "The company wishes you..." sounds rather formal and remote.

It is quite common/natural/usual for companies to prefer the 1st person (plural) as it sounds more convivial and friendly etc etc.  I got a Christmas e-card from Microsoft this year and they used...

(...) We wish you happy holidays and....  etc etc


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## wildan1

AE will always use the singular for such collective nouns. _ABC Inc. wishes you..._

BE varies -- the plural is often used for such statements. _ABC, Ltd. wish you..._

If your audience is North American, your message should definitely use the singular.

See these many threads on the topic  in the English Only Forum.


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## Chimel

As I'm also facing the question of using the singular or the plural with a company name, I've read some of the threads mentioned by Wildan. I understand AE definitely tends to use the singular, even for sports teams ("Pittsburgh* is* playing New England" as opposed to Arsenal *are* beating Manchester United"). That's clear.

For BE usage, Maître Capello suggested this (a few years ago...):


> I'd say that if you're referring more to the *people* working for and hence composing the company – especially when the subject of the sentence could have been a person – you could (or maybe should?) use “they”. On the other end, when speeking of the company in its whole, in generic terms or to describe its status, location, benefits, etc., you should definitely use _it_.



and was supported by British members. But in most cases, this explanation is no help for me: it's difficult to tell whether you're referring to the people or to the company itself.

Example: "Coca-Cola lance un nouveau produit". Would it be "launches" because it's the "Coca-Cola structure" rather than the people (but the people make the product)? I have the impression that the English say "launch" even in that case.


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## Maître Capello

Je pense que dans ce cas on n'a pas le choix: _Coca-Cola launch*es* a new product_.


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## Giordano Bruno

Maître Capello said:


> Americans prefer a singular while most Britons would use a plural. See also the following threads:
> 
> EN: the police - plural collective noun
> pronoun for a company/firm - English Only forum
> 
> P.S.: I've merged your thread with an other one on the same topic.



I don't think it's a BE/AE issue.  If you are thinking singular you will use the singular form.  "The team was victorious", but "The team were at each other's throats".  In many cases you have a choice as you may not have to make the distinction between the group and the members.  In these cases both are correct.


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## lucas-sp

Giordano Bruno said:


> I don't think it's a BE/AE issue.  If you are thinking singular you will use the singular form.  "The team was victorious", but "The team were at each other's throats".


I think it's still an AE/BE distinction, because an AE speaker would probably say "The players were at each other's throats" - i.e., she would choose a plural noun so as to avoid the clash of singular noun and plural verb.

I completely agree that both are correct, and I doubt that any of us would ever call "The team were..." incorrect. But we would bend over backwards so as not to get to that point.


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