Does "couple dies from Covid" sound a bit odd to you?

[DadDadDad]

Sorry if the reference to Covid deaths is upsetting, but I've just seen the headline on BBC News: Couple dies 12 hours apart with Covid-19

I know that couple is gramatically a singular noun, but it semantically references two people, and it sounds odd to my ear to say "the couple dies", as if it's a single entity that has perished, when two people have died.

I don't think I'd bat an eyelid at couple die from Covid-19, treating it as a plural.

Do singular verbs work in these examples...

Family dies in boating accident

England's football team dies in plane crash

Hotel staff dies in horrific fire

Theatre audience dies in bombing

That's probably enough death!

It does sound jarring in this case, but publishers such as the BBC will have a house style that sub editors follow. For example, you could write
England are through to the final!
or
England is through to the final!
Neither is wrong, it depends on the house style of the publication. A good editor will try to re-word a sentence to avoid clunkiness like 'couple dies'.

Yes, I understand about house style, and I guessed it was someone slavishly following that which led to this wording. A good editor will also surely deviate from house style to avoid jarring or help clarity.

It sounds tragic to me.

They have this problem on Strictly too. The couple going through is... Nicola and Katya! Always sounds jarring but not incorrect.

You are absolutely right, it should read "Couple die from Covid... "

And this is pendants corner where I usually enjoy the grammatical corrections and irritations.

But this just doesn't seem ok. Not really feeling it as a pedant issue, think it might be rather in poor taste in this topic
So sorry but, just .... no.

No it doesn't jar at all (except in terms of the content).

"family lives"
"Team tests negative"

Both fine.

"Staff dies" jars a bit more.

I think it should be singular, could be wrong

What about organisations
The bbc is about to announce
The BBC are about to announce

I'd always use the first but seem in a minority

Both singular and plural are widely used and generally accepted these days, but totally, 100% correct is still the "singular unit" one.
It jars because the language is moving towards total acceptance of the plural, and so, by definition, I'd say we hear it arguably more than what the grammar books tell us.

It's very UK to use plural verbs with collective nouns. It's far less entrenched elsewhere in the English-speaking world.

It's what happens with a nn that is singular in its form but is plural in its meaning.

So it swings both ways, and can occasionally indicate a shade of meaning:

England is an island v England are through to the next round

It is most definitely a singular noun. 'A couple from X has died...' is correct.

I frequently hear inaccurate adverts on the radio which get my goat: 'B&Q are having a sale', or ' Land Rover are offering xyz'...IT'S WRONG [ANGRY].

On a separate matter, James O'B on LBC had me spitting feathers the other day when he referred to having '20:20 hindsight'. Grrr.

Are you lot insane or something? Two people died tragically and you're wittering on about a point of grammar. I belong to a profession that is traditionally seen as hard-nosed but i am truly shocked by some of the posters on this thread.

Well done for making your comment @Rangoon. I was reading the thread myself in utter astonishment that people could be so concerned about proving how wonderful they are with grammar and seemingly indifferent to the fact that two people have actually died.

I had already read the article and felt upset at the content yesterday .
Rereading the same headline to discuss grammar doesn't upset me further.

On another thread, the OP has written

"The government are set to announce ..."

That definitely sounds wrong, government being singular!

I think some things just sound more wrong to your ears than others.
Although I'd say the bbc is, the bbc are doesn't sound too bad. Whereas my own employer is also a three letter acronym. Using 'are' with it sounds very wrong to me, but others do it.

@Rangoon

Are you lot insane or something? Two people died tragically and you're wittering on about a point of grammar. I belong to a profession that is traditionally seen as hard-nosed but i am truly shocked by some of the posters on this thread.

Have you spotted that this is in the topic set up specifically set up to discuss the linguistics and the English language (cunning linguistics exists for other languages)?

It's not a commentary on the substance, and please do start, in parallel, the thread you want to see about the actual deaths. People can care about more than one thing

And back to the theme of the thread: uncountable nouns can also be either, and it carries meaning

The sheep is in the field
The sheep are in the field

And I think that means that we are used to hearing plural verb with singular noun, and the usage is creeping towards following the meaning, not the form

That's so interesting.

I'm foreign and my (romance native language) and the opposite feels wrong to me.

Special mention to the often heard:
"England are on the attack".

It might be correct in English, but by golly it makes me cringe!

Two people die and you are worrying about the grammar! I think your behaviour is odd.

On another thread, the OP has written

"The government are set to announce ..."

Where did I do that?

Anyway, I'm far more relaxed than some on this thread about the singular / plural distinction. Arsenal win the cup - it seems perfectly natural to use a plural verb in such cases even if grammatically the noun is singular.

As for @Rangoon's comment, no-one is being forced to read this thread. Any death (from Covid-19 or anything else) is a sad thing, and like everyone else I find it shocking how many lives have been lost to the pandemic. But life continues, and we should be able to discuss other things, whether serious or light-hearted.

I never linked to the actual BBC article, and most of my discussion was around invented examples. If that's too upsetting, then it's easy to ignore this thread.

All of your examples are singular nouns and conjugated correctly in the third person singular.

There isn't a problem of 'house style' vs. what is correct.
'A couple' is a single entity.

On another thread, the OP has written

"The government are set to announce ..."
Where did I do that?

It's the OP of the thread in question who wrote that statement, not you.

Anyway, I'm far more relaxed than some on this thread about the singular / plural distinction.

You enter Pedants' Corner at your peril if you're 'relaxed' about grammar.

@mathanxiety

All of your examples are singular nouns and conjugated correctly in the third person singular.

There isn't a problem of 'house style' vs. what is correct.
'A couple' is a single entity.

I disagree. I think the examples of usage we see show that nouns that are grammatically singular but represent a plurality (especially a plurality of people) can be conjugated with a plural verb. So it's not as clear cut as you suggest. I really don't think there's anything wrong with sentences such as:

The teaching staff give up many of their lunchtimes to help the students

Does gives work there?

How about: The audience were forced to cover their ears by the loud music v The audience was forced to cover its [?] ears by the loud music ?

Rangoon the thread is specifically about grammar, not death. Get a grip (and btw 'Rangoon' is now known as Yangon - you wouldn't refer to 'Burma' would you? or 'Bombay'? unless you are a die-hard colonialist, hard-nosed or not).

Anyway, 'couple' is a singular noun. The only instances where it's interchangeable is where both singular and plural are covered by the same noun (ie there is no difference ). For example:
Sheep
Fish
Aircraft
and so on. In these instances 'is' would denote one, 'are' would denote two or more.