Collective nouns:
Examples of collective nouns are audience, committee, crowd, flock, government, jury, and orchestra, all of which are singular in form but plural in that they refer to groups that are made up of a number of individuals or individual things. Such nouns take singular verbs when they are regarded as units: The jury has handed down a unanimous verdict. They take plural verbs when emphasis is placed on the individuals making up the unit: The jury have been arguing among themselves for 12 hours, and no verdict is expected. Nouns that denote a class of objects, for example, furniture and luggage, are always singular: My luggage is missing. It is important to avoid inconsistency in your choice of verb and pronoun number when using collective nouns. For instance, this example contains inconsistencies: The committee has [singular] decided to reject the proposal and will give their [plural: use its] reasons in writing tomorrow. It is more common for a collective noun to take a plural verb in British English.
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