Following on from the post is it IS or ARE from anotheoldgit

[Maggoty]

There is an advert out at the mo by the car dealer Dovercourt Ford and the end phrase is "Dovercourts are the one". Should it be

Dovercourt is the one

or

Dovercourts are the ones

or are they right??

[Quizmonster]

The apostrophe has largely disappeared in the names of businesses...hence, we now have Barclays Bank rather than Barclay's Bank. The presence of the final 's' does not really make it a plural word, but it may be seen as such. So the use of 'is' or 'are' is optional. We might say, "Barclays is my favourite bank" or "Dovercourts are always reliable in my experience."
"Dovercourts are the one" or "Dovercourts is the one" are both perfectly fine as an advert in my view. "Dovercourts are the ones" doesn't work for me, though.

This is exactly what I was saying in the other thread you mention, so you will probably find the same people appearing here to contradict me!

[Aquagility]

I think that Barclays is a bad example. Whether it is written as Barclays or Barclay's, it's only one bank and so one should never say "Barclays aremy favourite bank".

[jno]

compare Lloyds Bank with Lloyd's of London... both correct but it's hard to draw any meaningful conclusion. Proper names (ie those of people, companies etc) are pretty much a law unto themselves.

Aquagility, a lot of Barclays banks have cashpoint machines and those ones are my favourites...

One distinction some publishers use is that a limited company (a Co Ltd or PLC) is a singular entity but a partnership (eg lawyers or architects) is a group of equals and so takes a plural verb. Also, a football club may be singular while the team is plural (West Ham is based in Mongolia/West Ham are rubbish).

[Maggoty]

Itjust that the ad gets so many things wrong in just that one sentence.

"Dovercourts('s) are the one"

Their name is Dovercourt Ford (no s unlike Barclays etc), so surely the "Dovercourts" bit in the phrase should suggest that it should be "Dovercourt is" Therfore Dovercourt is the one. But as it stands it translates into "Dovercourt is are the one". Hate the advert (only slightly more that optical express where they say fool instead of full!!)

[jezmatron]

is that not Opthalmic Eye?

God I hate that one!!

With the woman running on the treadmill, who tries to make it look like she can only do that cos of her perfect vision!!! grrrrr!!!

[Maggoty]

Yup - thats the one. You are so much fitter with corrected vision!!