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Grammatical Pet Peeve


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I've been listening the APDs and one thing that's been gnawing at me is the introduction of performing units. If one is speaking of the group in the 3rd person in a narrative fashion, it is totally proper to refer to The Phantom Regiment, The Cadets, The Cavaliers, and The Blue Devils.

When one "addresses" the group directly, as in the invitation to take the field, it is incorrect to use the article "the". For example,

Cadets (all of you members), you(plural) may take the field in competition.

not: THE Cadets, you make take the field. The announcer is in fact addressing the members.

PS- Same goes for THE Cavaliers.

PSS- I realize these groups have copyright rules for the manner in which the organization is listed in official literature, etc.

Additional pet peeve: "2 soldiers (or Troopers) were injured."

NOT: 2 Troops were injured.

Troop is a singular noun which indicates a plural number of soldiers contained within.

Anyone else noticing this?

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Dude, it's drum corps. Calm yourself. I was an English major and am geting my Master's at NYU and it doesn't bug me. Just have fun!

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Me not notice things. Me likey drumcorps. Me remember annoucer voice from sky. Me take not notice.

side note: Fire bad.

BOOTS!

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I've been listening the APDs and one thing that's been gnawing at me is the introduction of performing units. If one is speaking of the group in the 3rd person in a narrative fashion, it is totally proper to refer to The Phantom Regiment, The Cadets, The Cavaliers, and The Blue Devils.

When one "addresses" the group directly, as in the invitation to take the field, it is incorrect to use the article "the". For example,

Cadets (all of you members), you(plural) may take the field in competition.

not: THE Cadets, you make take the field. The announcer is in fact addressing the members.

PS- Same goes for THE Cavaliers.

PSS- I realize these groups have copyright rules for the manner in which the organization is listed in official literature, etc.

Additional pet peeve: "2 soldiers (or Troopers) were injured."

NOT: 2 Troops were injured.

Troop is a singular noun which indicates a plural number of soldiers contained within.

Anyone else noticing this?

YES ,ME ,,, before i reed the artcles in this hear DCP groop. i cheke the speelling , the for gramticle errorrs, then I copies everythang into my email thingy to checke it for errors. Only than will i reed the artikle. Good point.

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I always chek in my dicshunery

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I've been listening the APDs and one thing that's been gnawing at me is the introduction of performing units. If one is speaking of the group in the 3rd person in a narrative fashion, it is totally proper to refer to The Phantom Regiment, The Cadets, The Cavaliers, and The Blue Devils.

When one "addresses" the group directly, as in the invitation to take the field, it is incorrect to use the article "the". For example,

Cadets (all of you members), you(plural) may take the field in competition.

not: THE Cadets, you make take the field. The announcer is in fact addressing the members.

PS- Same goes for THE Cavaliers.

PSS- I realize these groups have copyright rules for the manner in which the organization is listed in official literature, etc.

Additional pet peeve: "2 soldiers (or Troopers) were injured."

NOT: 2 Troops were injured.

Troop is a singular noun which indicates a plural number of soldiers contained within.

Anyone else noticing this?

I'm with you...I think it sounds very silly. I miss the days of "Cavaliers, you may take the field" instead of "THE Cavaliers..." or "THE Cadets." It still grates on my nerves a little.

Oh well.

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The unit is called "The Cadets." It is treated as a single group, and its referent pronoun should agree in number. Of course, that's the great thing about "you." It can be used in the singular or plural case--singular in the sense of "you", individually, or plural in the sense of "you all" as a group.

So, "The Cadets, you may blah blah blah" is 100% correct.

You're right about troops, though that may change over time. For fun, look up the original singular of the word "pea" and how the plural we use for it now (peas) only came into existence because of widespread and incorrect usage.

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