English Café: Collective Nouns – Singular or Plural?

Advanced Details: Collective Nouns – Singular or Plural?

Collective nouns such as team, group, audience, and gang, are usually singular but can be treated as plural in some contexts:

American English

Collective nouns are usually treated as singular and take a singular verb: “The audience is noisy.” However, collective nouns can be treated as plural when the focus is on the individual members of the group. For example, “The audience are fighting in the aisles.” can be rewritten as “Audience members are fighting each other in the aisles.”

British English

Collective nouns can be treated as singular or plural depending on the context. Yes, collective nouns can use a plural verb when the individuals within the group are acting individually. For example, “The team are in disagreement about how to do the job.” uses a plural verb because the people on the team are disagreeing with each other.