-1Verbal Lessons

1) Subject-verb agreement with collective nouns:

Collective nouns are verbs that imply more than one person and are GENERALLY
considered singular. In some cases, a plural verb may be called for if the individuals that
make up the whole are referred to in the sentence.

Examples: The team needs a new coach. VS The team congratulate each other.
In the second case, the team MEMBERS are being referred to.

Here is another explanation: A collective noun presents a group of people or objects as a

single unit. We use collective nouns to represent things that are not usually counted as
single items: committee, family, class. Unless the sentence clearly draws attention to the
individual members or parts of a collective noun, use the singular form of the verb.

Another example: The staff are in disagreement. VS The staff is working on the project.
One test to check whether to use a plural or singular verb is to imagine if the sentence
would sound better if you inserted "members" after the noun.
In the previous two examples, "The team members congratulate each other," and "The
staff members are in disagreement" sound better than the alternatives.

2) Distinction between "somebody" and "someone"

The actual definitions of these two words are EXACTLY the same. If you DO see a
question like that, I would read the sentence out loud to yourself in your head and see
which one sounds better, but a question like that would most likely get thrown out.
The distinction that you may get tested on is the one between "somebody/someone" and
"anybody/anyone." Just remember:
Some is used if the idea is restricted or limited in some way. Any is used if the idea is
unrestricted or unlimited in some way
Any = ALL or NONE; some applies to a part.
Examples:
INCORRECT: Anybody left the refrigerator door open. [This had to be a specific person
because this action occurred, so the idea is limited. This sentence should sound strange.]
CORRECT: Somebody left the refrigerator door open.
- Generally, however, when you use anybody, you can also use somebody.
CORRECT: Does somebody here speak Chinese?
CORRECT: Does anybody here speak Chinese?