ESLGold Collective Nouns Lyrics

Some nouns can be considered either singular or plural, depending on whether the speaker is referring to them as a one group or individually.
Examples of collective nouns are:

group family committee team management

The committee has not made a decision yet.
The committee have not made a decision yet.

The team is posing for a photograph.

The team are signing autographs.
(It will submit one conclusion as a group.)
They are still arguing among themselves.)

(as a group)

(as individuals)

Be careful when using collective nouns with p___ouns.

The Jones family is having a reunion this Sunday. It meets every summer.
The Jones family are going home on Monday. They all live in different states.

Recognize a collective noun when you see one.
Nouns name people, places, and things. Collective nouns, a special class, name groups [things] composed of members [usually people]. Check out the chart below:

army
audience
board
cabinet
class
committee
company
corporation council
department
faculty
family
firm
group
jury
majority minority
navy
public
school
senate
society
team
troupe

Use correct verbs and p___ouns with collective nouns.
Each noun from the list above is a single thing. That thing, however, is made up of more than one person. You cannot have a committee, team, or family of one; you need at least two people who compose the unit.

Because people behave as both herd animals and solitary creatures, collective nouns can be either singular or plural, depending on context. In writing, this double status often causes agreement errors. How do you tell if a collective noun is singular or plural? What verbs and p___ouns do you use with the collective noun?

Here is the key: Imagine a flock of pigeons pecking at birdseed on the ground. Suddenly, a cat races out of the bushes. What do the pigeons do? They fly off as a unit in an attempt to escape the predator, wheeling through the sky in the same direction.

People often behave in the same manner, doing one thing in unison with the other members of their group. When these people are part of a collective noun, that noun becomes singular and requires singular verbs and p___ouns. As you read the following examples, notice that all members of the collective noun are doing the same thing at the same time:

Every afternoon the baseball team follows its coach out to the hot field for practice.

Team = singular; follows = a singular verb; its = a singular p___oun. All members of the team arrive at the same place at the same time.

Today, Dr. Ribley's class takes its first 100-item exam.

Class = singular; takes = a singular verb; its = a singular p___oun. All members of the class are testing at the same time.

The jury agrees that the state prosecutors did not provide enough evidence, so its verdict is not guilty.

Jury = singular; agrees = a singular verb; its = a singular p___oun. All members of the jury are thinking the same way.

Now imagine three house cats in the living room. Are the cats doing the same thing at the same time? Not this group! One cat might be sleeping on top of the warm television. Another might be grooming on the sofa. A third animal might be perched on the windowsill, watching the world outside. There is one group of animals, but the members of that group are all doing their own thing.

Members of collective nouns can behave in a similar fashion. When the members are acting as individuals, the collective noun is plural and requires plural verbs and p___ouns. As you read these examples, notice that the members of the collective noun are not acting in unison:

After the three-hour practice under the brutal sun, the team shower, change into their street clothes, and head to their air-conditioned homes.

Team = plural; shower, change, head = plural verbs; their = a plural p___oun. The teammates are dressing into their individual outfits and leaving in different directions for their individual homes.

After the long exam, the class start their research papers on famous mathematicians.

Class = plural; start = a plural verb; their = a plural p___oun. The students are beginning their own research papers-in different places, at different times, on different mathematicians.

The jury disagree about the guilt of the accused and have told the judge that they are hopelessly deadlocked.

Jury = plural; disagree, have told = plural verbs; they = a plural p___oun. Not everyone on the jury is thinking the same way.

Whenever you cannot decide if a collective noun is singular or plural, exercise your options as a writer. You have two ways that you can compose the sentence without causing an agreement error: 1) insert the word members after the collective noun [jury members, committee members, board members], or 2) use an entirely different word [players instead of team, students instead of class, soldiers instead of army]. Then you can use plural verbs and p___ouns without worrying about making mistakes or sounding unnatural.