Grammar Girl here.

This week I have a quick and dirty tip about whether band names are singular or plural.

A meaty middle about the difference between the words woman and female and a featured

listener.

Let's get started.

On Twitter, a user with the handle noise journal asked about band names, writing,

when referring to a rock band, do I use the singular form is, or the plural form are?

Or does the band name dictate the usage?

Collective nouns such as the word band are generally singular in the United States.

But for band names, most people go by the rule that if the band name sounds plural like

the Beatles or Black Eyed Peas, they treat the name as plural.

And if the band name sounds singular, like Fallout Boy or Colt Play, they treat the name

as singular.

So in the United States, you'd see sentences such as the Black Eyed Peas were amazing

at the rose bowl, treating Black Eyed Peas as plural because it sounds plural.

And they were amazing.

And Colt Play is hitting the road this summer, treating Colt Play as singular because

it sounds singular.

But now I need to point out a British English versus American English difference.

British writers are more likely than American writers to treat all band names as plural.

For example, it's easy to find British publications writing about the recent Colt Play tour with

lines such as, Colt Play are the headliners and Colt Play are asking their fans to submit

...