The team was vs. the team were?

[Torsten]

Hi, we might have discussed this before and I'd like to ask it again. I've come across the following sentence in the latest TOEIC Prep book by Barron's:

The financial team .... that the offer was rejected.
A) was disappointed
B) were disappointed
C) was disappointing
D) were disappointing

Would you agree that 'was disappointed' is the only acceptable option? (According to Barron's, the only correct sentence is this: "The financial team was disappointed that the offer was rejected.")

Many thanks,
Torsten
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Alan]

Hi Torsten,

I know I've said this before but I am happy with both 'was' and 'were'. It seems to me that you can either regard 'team' as a single entity or as a group of people. I would go on to say that the idea of the team being 'disappointed' seems to suggest more the human aspect and that would suggest to me even more the idea of a group of people.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Phrasal Verbs/bring

[Yuri Yurinov]

Hi, Torsten,

In my opinion both "was disappointed" and "were disappointed'' are possible.
Oops! Alan's answer came first and I can't say better.

Good luck,

Yuri
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An interested teacher, interesting lessons, interested pupils - these are three sides of a triangle named 'teaching'.

[Torsten]

Hi Alan and Yuri,

Thanks a lot for your answers. I agree with both of you but apparently Barron's don't or shall I say "doesn't"....
_________________
Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Anglo Sax]

Reading between the lines....

Hi Torsten (and Alan and Yuri)

There's a problem: 'was disappointed' is the only acceptable option. The reason for this is that the question is multiple choice. Strictly a team (or a group) is a singular entity. The purist will argue (correctly) that this is the subject of the verb, not the members (of the team). Therefore, regardless of what Alan, or I, or anyone else may think ought to be acceptable, if both are on offer, the item writer is looking for the singular. The truth is that it is a badly written item. It should not have been included. Both structures are in such common usage, that both should now be allowed.

If the question had been an 'open cloze' both answers should have been allowed, even though some people would still disagree. It's another of those situations where 'you will never be wrong if you choose...' (in this case <was disappointed>). You may find the author of the book is independent of the examining body, and they would never actually include such a question. Until you can be sure of that, however, it's safest to make your students aware of the rule. Otherwise, in such a case, they may (got that sticky key fixed, Alan ) lose a point.