1 MARCH 1946, Page 14

ITS OR THEIRS"

SIR,—May I add a few words on the subject of collective nouns? "Nouns of multitude," to quote from A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, by H. W. Fowler, "are treated as singular or plural at discretion." Thus one might say: "The school has a good record," and equally correctly: "The school have gained in weight this term." In the first example the underlying thought is the school as a single entity ; in the second as a number of pupils. Surely, then, The Spectator is justified in printing "their offices," referring, as it may well do, to the several depamnents of a single organisation.—Yours faithfully, STEPHEN E. Scatuzzi.

"Great Ballard," Stowell Park, Fossebridge, Glos.