PLEASE QUICK HELP IN ENGLISH GRAMMAR ....

[Summerfruit]

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The family walks
The family goes
The family is eating

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Actually I'm not sure now. I've looked at those phrases too long

The family is singular

ie The family is happy

hence

The family go
The family walk

Families is plural

I just wrote a very long post, explaining why you were wrong, bookthief, then by the end of my huge rant, I had decided that you were right after all....

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THe family goes or the Family go to both work dependent on the sense of the sentence

so

"In general the family goes to the restaurant en masse"

"the family go to the restaurant and sit down to eat"

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of course I might be making it up as I go along

tis confusing

the family visit the Eiffel Tower perchance?

"The family goes up to the Eiffel Tower" doesn't make sense to me at all

"The family go to the Eiffel Tower"
"The family climb the Eiffel Tower"
"The family visit the Eiffel Tower"

Hmm, lets try replacing family with an easy singular noun such as John.

John walks/john walk. Ok, second is clearly wrong.

John goes/john go to. Second is wrong again.

John eating/john is eating. First is problematic (though you could say "this is a photo of John eating)

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Maybe it's the "The" bit that makes a difference.

Lets try with another singular noun.

The man walks/the man walk - second is wrong

The man goes/the man go - nope, still the second is wrong.

The man eating/the man is eating. Same as previous example.

So it all comes down to whether "The family" as a collective noun is treated as singular which I think it is.

I think it definitely is singular.

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"Collective nouns (committee, team, army, family etc) can take either it/which or they/who.

The commmittee which has met...It...
The committee who have met... They...

The difference is one point of view: the singular stresses the impersonal unity of the group; the plural the personal individuality of its members. "

from Rediscover Grammar by David Crystal

So I think the answer is either depending on context. Helpful??