Question for native English speakers

Language Corner
1
I'm having a discussion with my colleague about singulars and plurals. It concerns Company ABC, who is a client of ours. When writing to a third party about that company, would you say:

"Our client is....", or "Our clients are....."

I say that it stays in the singular (we're talking about one specific company here), he insists that it's always in the plural ("our clients' IP rights" as opposed to my view that "our client's IP rights" is correct).

Which is correct?

2
I'd say that neither is more correct than the other, it depends on how you view the company, a collection of indivduals or a single group.

"The team is preforming well" Vs "The team are preforming well" all depends on what you want to express.

3
I'm quite certain, having worked in management consulting and written similar emails, that the singular is correct. Though I doubt anyone would consider you a non-native speaker if you used the plural.

4
Hi mopp, I would say if talking to a third party about your client then it would be singular use, e.g. our client is ..... as "our clients are" would be when talking about more than one client.

But would say that "our clients' IP rights" is the correct one.

My personal opinion only.

The subject of apostrophes and the correct use was debated on the UK news recently, as less and less people are able to put them in the right place.

5
Problem is exactly the apostrophe :

Client singular - client's rights

Clients plural - clients' rights

6
I would say the following:

Client's IP rights - Singular possessive (the rights of one client being discussed with the third party)

Clients' IP rights - Plural possessive (the rights of more than one client)

Since you are talking about one client with a third party, you would chose the first example.

7
I've re-read my colleague's letter and he has now (surreptitiously, hehehehe) gone and corrected it to the singular version. Problem is, he's 81 and thinks he's the bees knees when it comes to English, and I hate to tell him that he does make mistakes. Thanks everyone!

8
http://www.wikihow.com/Use-Apostrophes

this should help you, and I think having read some more info on the apostrophe you are correct if it is singular possession.

9
Not everyone uses Aposstrohe properly:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...e-mistake.html

http://u2019.blogspot.com/