has "Staff" plural form? - Dean

Dean   Fri Mar 30, 2007 11:06 pm GMT
Hi, I went to a office today and see this: "All CAB staff are trained to ... and ... standards, and all case work is supervised & monitored." I felt that there are mistakes are staff -> staffs; all case work is -> all cases work are, don't you think.
Lazar   Fri Mar 30, 2007 11:34 pm GMT
<<I felt that there are mistakes...don't you think.>>

No, that sentence is fine.

<<staff -> staffs>>

In that sentence, "staff" is being used as a plural noun, meaning "staff members". (But be aware that "staff" can also function as a singular collective noun, as in "We have a staff.") The plural form "staffs" is only used when you pluralize the *collective* noun.

<<all case work is -> all cases work are>>

No, "case work" is the correct form. Here, the noun "work" is being modified by the attributive noun "case", and attributive nouns are almost always singular. "All cases work are" is ungrammatical in English.