"Peter Thomas" wrote in message
...
In message , Philip Eden
writes

"Stu" wrote in message
...

snip
Driving
conditions will be extremely dangerous and the public is advised not
to make any journeys unless really necessary.

The public *is* advised ????

The public is singular, I understand. Unlooked-for precision by the
writer. Unusual these days, hence the over-use of sadly and the use of
scarey in journalism. The precision is the more to be cherished because of
its rarity.

"The public" is, as Fowler calls it, a noun of multitude. It
may be followed by either a singular or a plural form of the
verb, according to whether it stands for a single entity or
for the individuals who compose it. The clue in the above
example is in the rest of the sentence. If the writer of the
Emergency Flash Warning regards "the public" as a single
entity, he or she therefore expects "the public" may have
decided to make one or more journeys as a single entity.
If the writer of the warning thinks that individual members
of the public might be considering making individual
journeys, then evidently he or she believes that "the public"
comprises a large number of individuals.

Philip Eden