Business writers and analysts take note:

Business entities and organizations are singular and take a singular predicate and singular pronouns:

• "Apple Computer must attract users to its retail stores"
• "Hewlett-Packard defended its merger with Compaq in court."
• "The ACLU's Web site details the organization's dedication to its mission."

The last example seems obvious, because you wouldn't write "the organization's dedication to their mission," but you'd be shocked at how many times you'll see "they" instead of "it" in sentences like the first two.

If you're referring to the members of an organization using only the group's name, that's plural and takes plural companions:

• "Dell Computer employees purchase a lot of technical books from Amazon.com. Dell uses their knowledge to corporate advantage."

But that's awkward at best. Better to say, "Dell uses employee knowledge..." or "Employees use their knowledge...." Just like individuals, companies are not "they." A company is an "it." Its employees or executives are a "they" or a "them."

Thank you. We now return you to the Web.

I really love Aaron Sorkin's work in The American President and his two TV series, Sports Night and The West Wing. Few things can get me back to writing and looking for succinct and unusual words more than these shows (oddly enough, I still haven't seen his first major movie, A Few Good Men). Sports Night, in particular, has been a favorite, and my TiVo catches it on Comedy Central every time it's on. I'm going to archive the episodes to tape this time -- when Comedy Central first picked up the show in 2000, they aired the show twice every weekday. Then it dropped to once, then it vanished, and now it's on again at 1:30 AM (CDT) just three days a week. I'm afraid when this run completes, they won't show it again, and I want it around.

There were only 48 episodes of Sports Night, and I think Sorkin thinks not enough of you watched them, because a whole lot of the actors, character names, dialogue, and situations have been repeated in The West Wing. I've threatened for a year to put up a page documenting all these overlaps because I really like them. Before I did, I decided to search Google, and -- lo! -- B.E. Warne has alread done it. His The West Wing" Unofficial Continuity Guide includes a Sports Night episode guide and extensive list of overlaps.

This is as much fun as Star Trek overlaps to me because they're good shows. Watch them.