Collective nouns

family
audience team
enemy
gang army staff
government
public group
company
police
 family police
enemy army team
gang
company
public audience staff
government
group

These are nouns that might include individual members "staff" means the total group of employees or
or be looked at as a whole unit. it could mean each individual employee.

The problem is: what verb do you use

with these nouns? "Okay, well, good.
Do you use a singular verb or What's the problem?"
do you use a plural verb?

Do you say: "The staff was invited to the BBQ."

or do you say: "The staff were invited to the BBQ."?
 s a y?
a n t to What i
sy
ou w our inte
t do y nt i on ?
Wha Do yo
u wan
do yo t to talk a
u wan bout t
t t o ta h e in d
lk abo ividu
ut the als or
group
?

You you you, I cannot take the responsibility

for this. What if I get it wrong?

I'm afraid I have to tell you there’s

actually no rule that decides this.
What decides this is you.
 The staff was invited to the party.
Here, I could say both; I could say: The staff were invited to the party.
"My staff", my entire unit of employees or
I could talk about all the individual people who work for me were invited to the BBQ.

Because here, I'm talking about my entire staff, my whole collection of employees.
I use the singular because I'm talking about the one unit.
"Alike" is basically like "both", both young and old.
Why am I using the singular? look at this sentence: "My staff consists of young and old alike."

look at this sentences:

Do you want to talk about the individuals or
The staff was invited to the party.
do you want to talk about the group?
The staff were invited to the party.
keep in mind: this is also difficult for native English speakers to decide which one.

Usually in the U.S. and Canada, most people will automatically choose the singular:
"The staff is", "The police is“.

In the U.K., they will naturally or usually go for the plural:

"The staff are", "The police are".

So, which one?

I am still confused?

My family are going on holiday soon.

My family was on holiday last month.

Somebody is bothering my neighbour. They are making a lot of noise.
My neighbour asked the person to leave. The person wouldn't leave, so she called the police.
The police are coming to arrest this person.
but here I’m talking about the individual officers
that came and not the whole police force.
I have to be very careful driving these days because the police is cracking down on texters.
(people who drive and text)

Sometimes it'll be very natural, you would only use the singular here because
you’re talking about the whole unit.

But, because I speak British English I would naturally say the police are

So, it all boils down to Do you want to talk about the individuals?
which meaning you want to use? Do you want to talk about the group, the whole group?
1. The team is/are headed to the nationals since winning the state finals.
Team is being used as a cohesive unit, so a singular verb is required.

2. The mock trial team was/were happy with /its/their presentations to the judge.
The singular verb was and pronoun its are used if the writer intends to convey that team members
were generally all happy with the presentations.

3. Nearly 25% of the population is/are Muslim.

The word population is a collective noun that can take either a singular or plural verb, depending on the intention of
the author. The intention here is to indicate that this percentage represents individuals in the group.

4. Our staff meets/meet on Tuesday mornings to discuss customer complaints.

Staff, a collective noun, is acting as a single unit in this sentence.

5. Our staff works/work hard to meet their goals and deadlines.

Their is a clue that staff is not acting as a unit. Therefore, the plural work is needed.

How do you know that work, not works, is plural?

Think about which word you would use with he and which word you would use with they.
 Use is or are to fill in the blanks and explain why you chose it

is now smaller and richer than it was 50 years ago.

1. The average Indian family _______

is in Milan this weekend.

2. The team _______

are divided on this issue.

3. The committee _______

is a bright one.
4. The class _______

are a mixed lot.

5. The class _______

is on the field. It has a good chance of winning.

6. The team _______

are still debating the case.

7. The jury _______

are living in various parts of Malaysia.

8. His family _______
 Let’s make it a little easier and clearer

company
member
government

group
gang
officer
police
family
public

employee staff
team
audience
 Let’s make it a little easier and clearer

staff government group

member family gang public
audience
team

police
officer

company
employee
1. The company ______
is winding up next week.
2. The company employees ______
are looking for a new job.
3. The government ______
is passing a new bill today.
4. The members of government ______
are voting later.
5. The gang ______
is causing havoc in the town.
6. The gang members ______
are congregating outside the school.
7. The flower arranging group ______
is meeting tonight
8. All the flower arranging group members _______
are present.
9. The police _______
is cracking down on drunk drivers.
10. The police officers _______
are stopping suspected car drivers.
11. The public _______
is up in arms at the new tax law.
12. Members of the public _______
are protesting outside the town hall.
13. My family _______
is coming this week.
14. There_______
are six members in my family.
15. The staff at the bank _______
is on strike.
16. Members of staff at the bank _______
are demanding more money.
17. The audience _______
is making a lot of noise.
18. Members of the audience _______
are starting to leave.
19. The team members _______
are celebrating.
20. The team _______
is holding a celebration party.
The end