English Café: Identifying one person on a crew–gang–family–team

Advanced Details: Identifying one person on a crew–gang–family–team

For collective nouns like team, write one team (for the group) and one team member (for just one person).

Be careful with the verbs:

• A plural collective noun takes a plural verb: Families enjoy this restaurant.
• A singular collective noun usually takes a singular verb: Our family enjoys this restaurant.

And, as noted above, add the word member when you are talking about one person, e.g., in the family.

• That family member is a vegetarian.

So, we will write: one crew (for the entire group) and one crew member (for just one person) who is on the team. Or, you may also use the common word “crewman.”