When talking about a group of people working in a company we say "the staff is working well today". Staff is a "collective noun" like shoal, flock or herd. The point is, in normal situations, staff is a singular. It gets a bit confusing because there is also a verb "to staff" which means to allocate people to an organisation. So you might "staff" a restaurant.

'Staff' can mean several things and the rules of 'staffs', 'staff', or 'staves' for plural varies with each: - staff: the stick a wizard carries in fantasy novels. Plural is 'staffs', though the odd occasion you'll see 'staves'. - staff: a piece of stick. Plural is 'staves'. For instance a wooden barrel is composed of staves. - staff: a musical notation. Plural is staves. - staff: the people of an organization. It's possible for plural to be 'staff' OR 'staffs'. Eg. Microsoft has a staff of 1000 in technology and a staff of 2000 in marketing. You could say, "The staffs/staff in technology and marketing include 3000 people". 'staff' in this people sense can take 'is' or 'are'. eg. "All the staff ARE present today" and "All the staff IS present today". Which version is most common will vary on the country.

(a) The staff are angry (correct) (b) The staffs are angry (incorrect) Staff is always a plural noun. It is that strange noun that is termed: Collective Noun. A collective noun is a fancy way of saying 'a group of things'. In this case, a group of people that work together = staff. On the other hand 'employee' can be single or plural (employees). Staves --> can be 'music notes' or 'magic wands (like harry potter) or a music band. Staves refers to something that is not staff. I hope this helps :)

We use 'staff' as the plural. She is a member of staff / They are staff (members of staff). Notice staff stays the same, it is 'member ' that either has an 's' for plural or no 's' for singular. You can also use a shorter form with just 'staff'. She is staff at Apple. They are staff at Apple. Hope this helps. Richard

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