Grammaticaly correct

[beejaybee]

Should it be "The couple is" or "The couple are" ??? beejaybee.

[noxlumos]

The couple are.

[beejaybee]

That`s what I thought, but on Dancing on Ice & Strictly Come dancing the hosts always say "The couple is". beejaybee

[dachse]

No I disagree.

You are talking about one couple so it should be "the couple is...."

[Whickerman]

It's "is".

Couple is singular when prefaced by a "The".

[Quizmonster]

Either is perfectly acceptable. We had what amounts to the same question here about a week ago, when someone asked if clubs - the card-suit - should have 'is' or 'are' attached to it. The answer is...both.
I would probably not say: "The couple is getting married on Saturday," since I would be thinking of them quite specifically as a duality rather than a singularity in those circumstances.

[dachse]

Don't think this is quite the same as the "clubs" issue really but "Clubs" as in the suit of cards is again a singular i.e "clubs is one of the 4 suits"

[Quizmonster]

Yes, Dachse, but some people approaching a bridge card-table with a game in progress might say to one of the players: "What's trumps?" whilst others say: "What are trumps?" Both are equally acceptable; it's as simple as that.

[dachse]

Ok QM but are we talking about the gramatically correct way (as I believe my answers are) or what is generally accepted in everyday speak (as your answers)?

[noxlumos]

If you say "is" quite frankly your going to sound like Ali G.

"The couple is looking beautiful".

[dachse]

NO. In that example the correct phrase would be "the couple look beautiful"

[noxlumos]

It was a joke, sorry just clearly not a very good one:)

[Narolines]

Grammatically, it should always be "is", as "couple" is a singular noun, and I think in many cases that's what I would say. Having said that, in everyday spoken English grammatically correct structure can sometimes sound awkward or just not quite right, and there are times when "are" just makes more sense. In the Dancing On Ice/Strictly Come Dancing context in the question, I would say "is" is definitely correct, as each couple is competing as a single entity consisting of two people.

[Mazmo]

I would think 'The couple is' and 'The couples are' is correct

[jno]

depends whether you think of them as a pair or as two individuals. Strictly speaking, it's a singular noun and so it should be 'the couple is'. But I'm finding it very hard to think of a sentence starting like that ('The couple was well dressed') that doesn't sound downright odd; noxlumos is right.

[snook]

I think this is an instance in which the strict grammatical correctness comes second to what sounds right. You could argue all night about the noun being single, or whatever, but in the end if the phrase doesn't sound right, it's not right to use it.

[Quizmonster]

Language is not a set of rules which must be obeyed...it is a living. always-adapting thing. What is 'correct' is how people actually use it.
When I started school in the early 1940s, 'to-morrow' was written thus...ie with a hyphen. Virtually no-one now writes it so. Are we all 'wrong' because Miss Reid of Primary Three in 1944 would have believed we are?
Does anyone in his right mind say: "Darts are a game of skill"?
The plain fact is that there are circumstances in which we treat such concepts as singular and others in which we treat them as plural. That's all there is to it. I repeat, therefore, " either is perfectly acceptable".

[LeoMunro]

That's all there is to it. I repeat, therefore, " either is perfectly acceptable". States Quizmonster - spot on, as QM usually is. Good on yer buddy! Lm

[BetsyLou]

The thing is, it's not a question of grammar or correctness. As QM says above, either is one is fine. The reason for this, though, is that this form of usage - where there is a supposed number disagreement between the verb and subject - is not only in common usage, but has also been in regular literary and official usage, too. It's the same as the singular usage of 'they' (eg, 'anyone who thinks they know better is wrong'), often used to avoid a sexist usage of the so-called generic 'he'.

[katness]

the couple are....

[Quizmonster]

Thank you for your kind comment, Leo. I never understand why people insist on getting themselves tied up in needless complications of these things. Doing so makes as much sense as the medi�val debate on how many angels could dance on the head of a pin, as far as I am concerned! Cheers