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I am having a hard time determining the correct usage when referring to my staff in a sentence. It includes multiple employees.

Should I say"

Staff were busy this fall or

Staff was busy this fall....

HELP!

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marked as duplicate by TimLymington, Mitch, Sven Yargs, Tragicomic, FumbleFingers Oct 11 '15 at 17:34

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In British English, it's not uncommon for staff to be followed by a plural verb. So, "our staff were busy".

In American English, "our staff was busy" is correct.

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    ...and this is American English because the OP talks about Fall rather than Autumn. – chasly from UK Oct 10 '15 at 18:55
  • I assume you're right. Incidentally, you guys never ever use fall? It is exclusively American? – A.P. Oct 10 '15 at 18:58
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    Please don’t answer duplicates. – tchrist♦ Oct 10 '15 at 18:58
  • Didn't know it was a duplicate, kinda new around here. – A.P. Oct 10 '15 at 18:59
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    Using fall for the season is originally a British thing but which per the OED is now rare in literary use there, although still found in some dialects. Like many linguistics castoffs, it was preserved in North America. – tchrist♦ Oct 10 '15 at 19:01

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