1

I saw this news headline:

Japan defeat Scotland to progress to RWC Quarter Final

Can country names be treated as plural nouns? This dictionary says it is a singular noun.

quibble
  • 847
  • 4
  • 12
  • 20
  • Can you edit your question to explain something about what leads you to think that country names can be treated as plural nouns? "[Details, please](https://ell.meta.stackexchange.com/q/439/6700)." – Ben Kovitz Oct 14 '19 at 06:12
  • Oh, I think I figured it out: you must be asking why "defeat" agrees with "Japan". – Ben Kovitz Oct 14 '19 at 06:14
  • I wrote you an answer but since this question got marked as a duplicate, I posted it [here](https://ell.stackexchange.com/a/227605/6700). – Ben Kovitz Oct 14 '19 at 06:54
  • OK. Thanks. If this question should be deleted, please delete it. "India has or India have" is probably not an informative title, though. – quibble Oct 14 '19 at 07:02

1 Answers1

1

In British sport journalism, teams are usually plural, and national teams are named as the nation.

Michael Harvey
  • 66,701
  • 3
  • 96
  • 141