The Collective Noun
Recognize a collective noun when you see one.
Nouns name people, places, and things. Collective nouns, a special class, name groups
[things] composed of members [usually people]. Check out the chart below:
army council minority
audience department navy
board faculty public
cabinet family school
class firm senate
committee group society
company jury team
corporation majority troupe
Use correct verbs and pronouns with collective nouns.
Each noun from the list above is a single thing. That thing, however, is made up of more than
one person. You cannot have a committee, team, or family of one; you need at least two
people to compose the unit.
Because people behave as both herd animals and solitary creatures, collective nouns can be
either singular or plural, depending on context. In writing, this double status often causes
agreement errors. How do you tell if a collective noun is singular or plural? What verbs and
pronouns do you use with the collective noun?
Here is the key: Imagine a flock of pigeons pecking at birdseed on the ground. Suddenly, a
cat races out of the bushes. What do the pigeons do? They fly off as a unit in an attempt to
escape the predator, wheeling through the sky in the same direction.
People often behave in the same manner, doing one thing in unison with the other members
of their group. When these people are part of a collective noun, that noun becomes singular
and requires singular verbs and pronouns. As you read the following examples, notice that all
members of the collective noun are doing the same thing at the same time:
Every afternoon the baseball team follows its coach out to the hot field for practice.
Team = singular; follows = a singular verb; its = a singular pronoun. All members of the team
arrive at the same place at the same time.
Today, Dr. Ribley's class takes its first 100-item exam.
Class = singular; takes = a singular verb; its = a singular pronoun. All members of the class
are testing at the same time.
The jury agrees that the state prosecutors did not provide enough evidence, so its verdict is
not guilty.
Jury = singular; agrees = a singular verb; its = a singular pronoun. All members of the jury
are thinking the same way.
Now imagine three house cats in the living room. Are the cats doing the same thing at the
same time? Not this group! One cat might be sleeping on top of the warm television. Another
might be grooming on the sofa. A third animal might be perched on the windowsill, watching
the world outside. There is one group of animals, but the members of that group are all doing
their own thing.
Members of collective nouns can behave in a similar fashion. When the members are acting
as individuals, the collective noun is plural and requires plural verbs and pronouns. As you
read these examples, notice that the members of the collective noun are not acting in unison:
After the three-hour practice under the brutal sun, the team shower, change into their street
clothes, and head to their air-conditioned homes.
Team = plural; shower, change, head = plural verbs; their = a plural pronoun. The teammates
are dressing into their individual outfits and leaving in different directions for their individual
homes.
After the long exam, the class start their research papers on famous mathematicians.
Class = plural; start = a plural verb; their = a plural pronoun. The students are beginning their
own research papers—in different places, at different times, on different mathematicians.
The jury disagree about the guilt of the accused and have told the judge that they are
hopelessly deadlocked.
Jury = plural; disagree, have told = plural verbs; they = a plural pronoun. Not everyone on the
jury is thinking the same way.
Whenever you cannot decide if a collective noun is singular or plural, exercise your options
as a writer. You have two ways that you can compose the sentence without causing an
agreement error: 1) insert the word members after the collective noun [jury members,
committee members, board members], or 2) use an entirely different word [players instead of
team, students instead of class, soldiers instead of army]. Then you can use plural verbs and
pronouns without worrying about making mistakes or sounding unnatural.
