How to Use Collective Nouns

Collective nouns are words that are singular or plural depending on their use in the sentence. Collective nouns are used to name a group of animals, persons or things. You must analyze each sentence to determine whether the noun is singular or plural to help you choose the right verb.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Recognize a collective noun when you see it. A list is provided in the resource section.
2. Analyze the noun. If the group is acting as a unit the noun is singular; if the group is acting individually it is plural.
3. Use "and" to join two or more subjects to make the nouns singular; for example, "Ham and cheese is my favorite lunch."
4. Judge whether the compound subject is referring to one person or many people; for example, "My teacher and coach is a great guy."
5. See if the word "what" starts the sentence. Clauses and phrases acting as the subject usually imply a singular verb, unless they start with the word "what."
6. Learn the topics that are considered singular. Essays, lectures, musicals, novels, operas, plays, poems, quotations, sermons, slogans, themes and titles take a singular verb. For example, "'Guys and Dolls' is performed at numerous high schools." Names of books, magazines, newspapers and pamphlets also take a singular verb.
7. Understand when expressions of distance, money, portions, quantities, sums, time and weights are singular and when they are plural. If you are using the noun as a unit it will take a singular verb, but if it is indicating separate parts then it uses a plural verb. Likewise, fractions such as one-half of, two-thirds of and expressions such as majority of, part of and percentage of take a singular verb if a singular noun follows "of" and a plural verb when a plural noun follows "of."
8. Know when a company name is singular and when it is plural. If the company is referred to as "it," it is singular. If the company is referred to as "they" it is plural. Usually if a company ends in corporation or company, it is singular.