REDUX: Re: On Richard Jensen's Examples....as an Example of the Current General Discussion.

[MANMEET SINGH]

On Wed, 4 Nov 1998, Richard Jensen wrote:


> Given the above, then I may write, and be grammatically correct in doing
> so, the two following sentences:
>
>     "Fagaceae is characterized by the following characters:..."
>
>     "Fagaceae are found in North America, South America, Europe and
> Asia."
>
> In the former, the Fagaceae is being referred to as a single entity
> (Fagaceae as a family-level taxon); in the latter, various members of
> the Fagaceae are referred to ("Some Fagaceae are found...").




> I see this
> as no different from the following:
>     "The committee is qualified to decide the question."
>
>     "The committee are not all qualified to decide the question."
>


I think it will be best if we don't mix up the two issues. The use of
common English words and their plural or singular form can not be
equated with names of taxonomic groups which above the generic level are
invariably supposed to be plurals. This is what the Botanical Code expects
us to remember and practice,and also implement. Only when such a group is
prefixed with the rank in singular form that the statement gets singular
form. Thus



"Fagaceae are characterised by the following......"

"Family Fagaceae is Characterised by the following......"

"Fagaceae are found in .............."

would be the correct usages of taxonomic groups.


Gurcharan Singh

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Dr. Gurcharan Singh
Department of Botany
Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College
University of Delhi
Delhi-110007, INDIA
ph: 91-011-7257469
Res: 932 Anand Kunj
Vikas Puri
New Delhi-110018
ph: 91-011-5531534
e-mail: singhm at giasdla.vsnl.net.in
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