{"id":543,"date":"2025-04-23T17:08:20","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T21:08:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/grammarbasics\/?post_type=chapter&p=543"},"modified":"2026-01-26T14:28:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T19:28:19","slug":"tricky-situation-collective-nouns","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/grammarbasics\/chapter\/tricky-situation-collective-nouns\/","title":{"raw":"Tricky Situation: Collective Nouns","rendered":"Tricky Situation: Collective Nouns"},"content":{"raw":"Sometimes we use a singular noun to describe a group of things. Words like\u00a0flock, group, audience, team<\/em> all describe multiple people\/animals\/things collected in one big unit. We call those\u00a0[pb_glossary id=\"544\"]collective nouns[\/pb_glossary].\r\n\r\nSo, when we're choosing a verb to work in conjunction with a collective noun, should we choose singular or plural? The answer is -- it depends.\r\n\r\nThe question we ask ourselves is this: is the group acting as one unit, or are all the individual parts of the group doing their own thing? Let's look at a few examples to demonstrate the process.\r\n

The team (wins\/win) nearly every game.<\/em><\/p>\r\nYou might already have an instinctual answer for which verb you'd choose here, but let's go through the process. I see the collective noun\u00a0team<\/em> in here. So, are the members of the team all doing the same thing together here? I would say they are -- it's not possible for some of them to win and not others. The team either wins or loses, and they all do it together, so we treat\u00a0team<\/em> as a singular noun:\r\n

The team wins<\/span> nearly every game.<\/em><\/p>\r\nNow let's examine another sentence.\r\n\r\n \r\n

The hotel staff (is\/are) working to complete all their daily tasks.<\/em><\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\nIn this sentence, we've got that collective noun\u00a0staff.<\/em> Now I ask myself whether all the members of the staff are working at the same task together, or doing their own separate thing.\r\n\r\nI picture all the people doing their own separate thing. Some might be cleaning rooms, while others check the reservations or stock the vending machines. So we're talking about multiple people doing multiple tasks: we need to use the plural verb here.\r\n

The hotel staff are<\/span> working to complete all their daily tasks.<\/em><\/p>\r\n \r\n

What About Company Names?<\/h4>\r\nWhen the subject of a verb is a company name, we use singular verbs, even if the name sounds like it's plural. Sometimes, to make sure I'm doing it right, I like to mentally replace the name of the company with the pronoun it<\/em> or the phrase the company.<\/em>\r\n\r\n \r\n

Nintendo<\/strong> is<\/span> selling the Switch 2 in North America.<\/p>\r\n \r\n

Starbucks<\/strong> sells<\/span> coffee on every street corner.<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nBefore we close this chapter, let's get some practice making verbs agree when the subject is a collective noun.\r\n

\r\n

PRACTICE: Choose the verb that agrees with the collective noun subject.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n

\r\n\r\n[h5p id=\"35\"]\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n \r\n\r\n ","rendered":"

Sometimes we use a singular noun to describe a group of things. Words like\u00a0flock, group, audience, team<\/em> all describe multiple people\/animals\/things collected in one big unit. We call those\u00a0collective nouns<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So, when we’re choosing a verb to work in conjunction with a collective noun, should we choose singular or plural? The answer is — it depends.<\/p>\n

The question we ask ourselves is this: is the group acting as one unit, or are all the individual parts of the group doing their own thing? Let’s look at a few examples to demonstrate the process.<\/p>\n

The team (wins\/win) nearly every game.<\/em><\/p>\n

You might already have an instinctual answer for which verb you’d choose here, but let’s go through the process. I see the collective noun\u00a0team<\/em> in here. So, are the members of the team all doing the same thing together here? I would say they are — it’s not possible for some of them to win and not others. The team either wins or loses, and they all do it together, so we treat\u00a0team<\/em> as a singular noun:<\/p>\n

The team wins<\/span> nearly every game.<\/em><\/p>\n

Now let’s examine another sentence.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The hotel staff (is\/are) working to complete all their daily tasks.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In this sentence, we’ve got that collective noun\u00a0staff.<\/em> Now I ask myself whether all the members of the staff are working at the same task together, or doing their own separate thing.<\/p>\n

I picture all the people doing their own separate thing. Some might be cleaning rooms, while others check the reservations or stock the vending machines. So we’re talking about multiple people doing multiple tasks: we need to use the plural verb here.<\/p>\n

The hotel staff are<\/span> working to complete all their daily tasks.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What About Company Names?<\/h4>\n

When the subject of a verb is a company name, we use singular verbs, even if the name sounds like it’s plural. Sometimes, to make sure I’m doing it right, I like to mentally replace the name of the company with the pronoun it<\/em> or the phrase the company.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nintendo<\/strong> is<\/span> selling the Switch 2 in North America.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Starbucks<\/strong> sells<\/span> coffee on every street corner.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Before we close this chapter, let’s get some practice making verbs agree when the subject is a collective noun.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

PRACTICE: Choose the verb that agrees with the collective noun subject.<\/p>\n<\/header>\n

\n
\n