English Café: “The staff is” or “The staff are”

Advanced Details: The “staff is” or the “staff are”?

The word staff is a collective noun. It represents a group. Some other examples of collective nouns are board, committee, company, organization, department, and faculty.

The trick with these words is that when the group is acting in harmony, you must use the singular form of the verb. That is, if you are talking about just one group, everybody acting together as one group, use the singular verb “is.”

• The staff at PTTEP is great. (acting as one big group)

If you are talking about each and every one (individual members of staff), with everybody acting by themselves as one person, use the plural verb “are.”

• All PTTEP staff, every man and every woman, were wonderfully supportive after I had my car accident.
• PTTEP staff, the members in every department, are great. (acting as one member in a big group)