Is 'Board of Directors' singular or plural?

Answer 1

"Board of Directors" is a singular (one board) compound noun that takes a singular verb.

Think of it as 'a special group' of directors. The group may be large or small.

Example: "The board is meeting this afternoon. (is= singular verb)

But when talking about 'the directors', they may be large or small, or of varying sizes!

Example: "The directors are meeting this afternoon." (are = plural verb)

COMPANY / CORPORATE LAW

A company has a Board of Directors. It is clearly singular. Therefore singular verbs and singular pronouns are used when referring to 'a board' or 'the Board' of Directors.

Examples of usage:

• "The World Bank Group has four Boards of Directors. ... Each Board of Directors is responsible for the conduct of ..." -The World Bank

• "The MCC Board of Directors is composed of the Secretary of State, the Secretary of ..." -Millennium Challenge Corporation, USA

• "If the board of directors has judged that a member bank is performing or behaving poorly, it will report this to the Board of Governors." -WikiPedia - Federal Reserve System

• "The exercise by the board of directors of its powers ..." -WikiPedia - Board of Directors

• "The board of directors generally sets broad corporate policy ..." - FreeDictionary.com

NOTE that the verbs 'is', 'has', 'it', 'its' and 'sets' are all singular forms.

PLURAL

The plural of 'board of directors' is 'boards of directors / Boards of Directors"

Some directors may serve on a numbers of different Boardsof Directors, that is, they have directorships with more than one company.

EXAMPLES OF USAGE

• Boards of Directors are responsible for ...
• If boards of directors have judged ... they will report ...
• The exercise by boards of directors of theirpowers ...
• Boards of directors generally set broad corporate policy. etc

Answer 2

The key word is 'board', the singular subject of the verb: the board was.

example: The board of directors was in conference all morning.

When using just 'the directors' as the subject: the directors were.

example: The directors were in a conference all morning.

Answer 3

The plural form is boards of directors.

Example: "Mr. Hamilton sits on two boards of directors."

Note: The compound noun 'board of directors' is a common noun unless it is the title of a specific board of directors; for example:

"Mr. Hamilton sits on the Abject Board of Directors and the Dismal Board of Directors."

The common noun 'board of directors' is not capitalized.

Answer 4

The plural form of Board of Directors is Boards of Directors. There is no apostophe. An apostrophe would be used in the possessive form, not the plural form.

Answer 5

No, the compound noun 'board of directors' is a common noun, a word for any board of directors of any kind.

Answer 6

The plural possessive form of boards of directors is boards of directors'.

Answer 7

Yes, that is correct.