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!

@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.

This

@DadDadDad
The teaching staff give up many of their lunchtimes to help the students
Does gives work there?
Yes, absolutely.
It is in fact the only conjugation that works here.
You could say 'members of the teaching staff give up many of their lunchtimes...' and in that case 'give' would be correct. It's not correct in your sentence.

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 ?

Again, yes. Audience is a singular noun.
You could say 'the members of the audience were forced to cover their ears' and that would be correct.

That's American grammar, math.

@Otamot

That's American grammar, math.

I think a few of you may be lost awhile

notoneoffbritishisms.com/?s=plural

I should add that neither British nor American. I'm a descriptivist, though, and I know better than to say "My family is coming around for dinner" when I'm in this country.

I'm* neither British nor American.

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.

I agree that sometimes they can. But not necessarily.
My family is small.
This government has the thickest cabinet.
The youngest year in the school is (are??) Reception?

Hmm.
My family is small (I read as "I have few members in my family")
My family are small (= we are short people)

Here's a sentence from a newspaper only yesterday:
Staff are not expected to wear masks at their desks at all times.
www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/17/no-10-narrow-corridors-thwart-social-distancing-efforts-staff-say

Would any British speaker say "staff is not expected..." - it just sounds wrong!

"Staff' is both singular ( He's staff ) and plural ( they're staff) so both are permitted.

Surely,
He's staff - the singular form of the verb relates to He, not staff?

@KaptainKaveman - so by your reasoning can't couple be plural: "they are a couple".

Staff are not expected to wear masks - pl
Moses's staff was coved in slime and bacteria - sing.

Maybe we need a distinction for semantics?

A couple (familiy unit) - can be singular
A couple (of weirdos) - plural?

Yes DadDadDad that makes sense.

@mathanxiety

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.

Thank you @mathanxiety, you got it!

Sorry @DadDadDad I was referring to the OP of that other thread not you

And to those who are virtue signalling about discussing grammar instead of people who've died, do you really not get that the whole purpose of having a Pedant's Corner is to take this discussion about grammar away from any actual thread about people dying, so actually you're in the wrong place telling us here what we should or shouldn't discuss!

No problem, @daisychain01 - it was just a moment of confusion for me.

Pedant's Corner

Ahem, like the Johnsons, there's more than one pedant out there! (At least you didn't write pendant).