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This Question is in my Exam book.

Q1.The English __ won the world cup
A) Has
B) Have
C) Is
D) Are

Which is correct? Also explain why. Because as far i know we use Have with I, We, They, You. And Has with He, She, It, or with a name. So what is "The English" is this a name.?

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  • I’ve taken your question off hold, because Sam was kind enough to edit in your comment. In the future, you should include that information in your question from the beginning. – ColleenV Mar 5 '19 at 20:54
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"won" can, in general, be either past tense or past participle. Since another verb is being put in front of it, in this case it's past participle. "is" and "are" are conjugations of "to be", which takes the present participle, not past participle, so that leaves "has" or "have". "The English" is generally plural, so it would take "have". However, if you're talking about a particular English person, and referring to that person as "The English" (which would be uncommon but not completely impossible), or if you're treating "The English" as a collective noun (as in "the English team"), then it would be "has".

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  • Whether collective terms (like a team or a company) are treated as grammatically plural or singular seems to vary between dialects, just FYI. – SamBC Mar 6 '19 at 11:52
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When you use the with an adjective that can be applied to people, it means all of the people who fit that adjective. It can also mean all of the people who fit that adjective within a certain context. Thus, the English means all English people, or in the context of football, it means English footballers (or, sometimes, fans), or by extension the English national team.

As such, any construction like that is plural:

The poor face many difficulties.
The disabled are often excluded from shops, bars and cinemas.
The French are widely considered haughty, but are actually a warm and friend people.

(Note that expressions like "the poor" and "the disabled" are often considered dehumanising and politically incorrect - but still widely used.)

So, we can see that "the English" in your question means the English sports team, or sports establishment, for whatever sport the World Cup in question is in. As such:

The English have won the world cup.

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You can say either

England has won the world cup

Or

The English have won the world cup

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  • In British English, "England have won" is preferred, since "England" refers to the team members as a group rather than the team as a discrete entity. – jsheeran Mar 6 '19 at 13:59

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