The Penguin Guide to Plain English

Collective Nouns
W e have raised the question of the collective noun, the noun w hich, like
the w ord choir, refers to a group or body o f objects or people. Strictly
speaking, it should in m ost cases take a singular verb, but one finds the
rule broken wherever one turns.
Our range of tiles have many different themes to choose from.
Behind the small village are a range of mountains.
A range of unique water-mixable mediums have been developed.
That is but a handful o f examples from the w orld o f magazines and
devoted to the one collective noun range alone. In each case the verb
should be singular: Our range o f tiles has many different them es;
Behind the village is a range o f m ountains; A range o f m edium s has
been developed.
W hat applies to the w ord range applies to other collective nouns. Yet
it is easy to find specimens o f error. Note the bracketed corrections in
the following sentences.
An impressive array of their paintings hang [hangs] on the walls.
A selection of bars, tavernas and shops are [is] within easy walking distance.
A rash of television designers have [has] erupted . . .
The entire fleet of Mendip Rail-operated GB Class 59s were [was] on site.
Her exhibition featured a mixture of hats; a combination of transparent,
woven, flexible and solid fabric structures were [was] used.
One finds the same mistake being made w ith a variety o f w ords like
com bination that gather items together. But usage sometimes presents
us w ith problem s in this respect. The following is a piece about cabinet
meetings.
In the early 1970s, there were still an average of 60 meetings a year.
Technically the singular verb w as w ould seem to be required here to
go w ith the singular w ord average, but it w ould be a rash pedant w ho
w ould insist on that. The safest correction w ould be: there w ere still, on
average, 60 meetings a year. The same applies to the following sentence: