Gray Areas In Rules Of English

[Baburra]

I heard of a few gray areas in English grammar way back when I was in elementary, and I've forgotten most of it at this point. I always remembered one of them, though, and I still notice it until today whenever I see it being used.

I'm pertaining to the use of collective nouns (not sure if this is the correct term, but see example below). My elementary teacher pointed out that this was still a gray area at the time, and I think it might still be one until now. For example:

Microsoft have stated that they will be discontinuing this particular product.

Nickelback are the greatest band in the world.

How would you go about this? I personally prefer considering the nouns as singular just because when we use them in this context, they are considered as one unit, but I see the opposite (above example) a lot more. I would personally do it this way:

Microsoft has stated that they will be discontinuing this particular product.

Nickelback is the greatest band in the world.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you have any other examples of gray areas in the rules? I'd love to remember the ones I've forgotten about.

[Dame6089]

You are correct. Although Microsoft and Nickleback consist of more than one person, they are viewed as a singular object. With sports teams though, you should use plural because their names are plural (Steelers, Yankees, etc.).