Learn English – Subject–object agreement: which of these sentences is correct

grammatical-number

  1. Corporations may not have a conscience, but they do have PR departments.
  2. Corporations may not have consciences, but they do have PR departments.
  3. Corporations may not have a conscience, but they do have a PR department.

#1 sounds correct to my ear, but it's inconsistent. #2 and #3 are consistent, but both sound very awkward to me.

Best Answer

The first may sound better, but it arguably is mistaken, since it implies a single (lack of) conscience across all corporations. This is not as evidently wrong as #3 (as JanusBahsJacquet points out), but it will grate on many ears. I would prefer A corporation may not have a conscience, but it does have a PR department. This fits better with what is clearly the origin of your sentence (conscious or otherwise); the rhetorical question of an eighteenth-century Lord Chancellor Did you ever expect a corporation to have a conscience, when it has no soul to be damned, and no arse * to be kicked?

*[usually rendered 'body' in law reports, particularly American ones]

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