Collective nouns are singular in form, “a team,” but refer to a group of two or more people or things. In other words, they’re singular and plural at the same time.

With collective nouns, consistency counts. “The main consideration in skillfully handling them is consistency in the use of a singular or plural verb,” writes Garner’s Modern American Usage.

Columnist and author June Casagrande ponders singular vs. plural nouns, plus the nagging questions behind subject-verb ...

Collective nouns can be taken as singular or plural, according to whether the word is seen as a unit or as individual items. For example: Thefamilyis proud ofitslineage. Family is seen as a whole ...

In many cases, though, you can use plurals with collective nouns in contexts where the individual is highlighted instead of the group, like “faculty,” “clergy,” and “people,” as long as you stay ...

Nouns and verbs must “agree” in English. If the subject of a sentence or a clause is singular, its verb must be too (“he works”); if the subject is plural, so is its verb (“they work”).

In the first two examples, since the noun phrases ‘the teaching community’ and ‘the police force’ are collective groups (singular), the noun ‘majority’ in the sentences takes a ...

2. Clothes To quote the Oxford English Dictionary, "a collective plural without a singular; to express the latter, a phrase such as 'article of clothing' is used". 3. Cahoots ...