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Is this sentence grammatically correct?

"Vodafone are providing a useless service"

I am quite sure that the Vodafone is singular, but everyday I see even many native English speakers using the Are instead of the Is

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A company such as Vodafone can be considered to be a large group of people, therefore plural, or a single organisation, therefore singular. So you can use either:

"Vodafone are providing a useless service" is equivalent to "The employees of Vodafone are providing a useless service".

"Vodafone is providing a useless service" is equivalent to "The Vodafone company is providing a useless service".

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  • Max Williams. The same thought to me too
    – Arman
    Commented May 25, 2016 at 7:50
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    I think it's broadly a UK/US split - Brits are likely to say my staff are useless, Americans more inclined to my staff is.... Similarly, even the BBC will refer to the Government are, but I doubt equivalent media in the US would use the plural/collective.
    – Prof Yaffle
    Commented May 25, 2016 at 8:50

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