English Café: “Committee” and the verbs used

Advanced Details: “Committee” and the verbs used

“Committee” is collective, countable noun. Collective nouns are words that refer to—you guessed it—a collection of individuals (people or animals) or things taken as a whole. Though these words appear singular, they represent a group; examples include team, jury, faculty, class, choir, family, and committee.

When the “committee” is being considered as a whole, it can be treated as a single entity and, therefore, requires a singular verb, e.g., “was” in the following sentence: “the group was ready to begin the meeting.” But when the individuality of its members is being emphasized, “group” is plural: “the group were in disagreement about which vendor to choose.”

Here is another example. Should you write “have” or “has” in the following sentence?: “The committee have/has gone on holiday.” “Have” is more likely than “has” in this “gone on holiday” case, because the separate members will usually have gone to different places from each other.