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A secret about collective nouns
Collective nouns, or group nouns, represent a number of things or people together. Some of them can be both singular or plural - both are correct and the choice is up to the speaker.
- Government
- Family
- Team
Be careful
Not all collective nouns act in this way. Some are always plural.
- The police are coming.
- The staff are tired.
A group of individuals
These nouns can be considered a group of individuals - a football team has 11 individual players. In this case, the pronoun is they and the verb form is plural.
- My football team are the best. They are unbeatable.
- The government plan to raise taxes. They are always doing that.
- My family are happy. They never have any problems.
A unit
These nouns can also be considered a unit - even though they have individual parts, they function together in unison. In this case, the pronoun is it and the verb form is singular.
- My football team is the best. It is unbeatable.
- The government plans to raise taxes. It is always doing that.
- My family is happy. It never has any problems.
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