“Only fools don’t change their mind(s)”

Abstract

The present study investigates plural non-verbal concord — the variation between the distributive plural (e.g., change their minds ) and the distributive singular (e.g., change their mind ) forms following a plural subject — in two inner circle varieties, British and American English, and two newer Englishes, Nigerian and Singapore English. We focus on usage patterns for six high-frequency, potentially variable constructions ( change one’s life , change one’s mind , find one’s way , learn one’s lesson , lose one’s life , shake one’s head ). Using both corpus data and results from a single-choice three-option preference test, we shed light on differences between the four varieties. British and American English show high consistency between corpus norms and speaker intuition, whereas Singapore and Nigerian English display broader divergences between corpus and preference data across the constructions. The results suggest that, for certain constructions, the distributive singular and plural forms may be in free variation among speakers of the newer Englishes, indicating a wider range of acceptable linguistic choices than the more established norms of the inner circle varieties.