On 13/06/2019 10:30, Tim Streater wrote:
In article , The Natural Philosopher
wrote:

On 12/06/2019 19:18, Tim Streater wrote:
That should have been electricians' union and mechanics' union, as any
skoolboy knows.

Depmds on whether is unions for *an* electrician, or *all* electricians.

Only in the latter case is the trailing apostropehe indicated.

If I recall, no specific individual was referred to.

That is not quite the point..

Its similar to the collective noun..

"a skein of geese *was* seen over london" (one goose is not a skein,
ergo there was more than one goose involved).

"a gaggle of geese *were* ****ting in the park". The gaggle didn't do
the ****ting - some individual geese did.

I nore that nearly all newspapers and the TV nad radio now incorrectly
refer to 'the police' as singular.

"The police is wrong" "The polices was called".

etc etc.


--
There is nothing a fleet of dispatchable nuclear power plants cannot do
that cannot be done worse and more expensively and with higher carbon
emissions and more adverse environmental impact by adding intermittent
renewable energy.