Asked by: Gessica Dettbarn
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How do you tell if a collective noun is plural or singular?

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Ask The Editor | Learner's Dictionary. A collectivenoun is a name for a group of people or things such as"family," "class," "pack," "bouquet," "pair," and "flock."Collective nouns usually take a singular verb,because they are singular in construction, but theysometimes take a plural verb.


Besides, is member a collective noun?

Collective nouns. A collective noun isused to refer to an entire group of persons, animals or things; ittherefore includes more than one member. For example, thecollective noun family stands for parents and children.People: board, choir, class, committee, family, group, jury, panel,staff.

Additionally, does personnel take a singular or plural verb? I consider the word personnel to besingular. The plural personnels is not used, becausethis word is a collective noun, i.e. a singular nounthat can be treated as plural and gets a pluralverb, just like police, family, etc.

Thereof, is the word jury singular or plural?

Jury as a whole sequestered..so the juryas a collective noun takes singular verb. But, if you intendto refer to the members considered as individuals, it will takeplural verb. Example: The jury were divided on asingle point.

Is system a collective noun?

collective noun It takes a plural verb when it refers to the members ofthe group considered as individuals, as in My family are alwaysfighting among themselves.

Related Question Answers

Thi Feldermann

Professional

Is a group singular or plural?

group (plural vs. singular) Whenthe group is being considered as a whole, it can be treatedas a single entity: “the group was ready to goon stage.” But when the individuality of its members is beingemphasized, “group” is plural: “thegroup were in disagreement about where to go fordinner.”

Verna Duchi

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Is group a common noun?

Common nouns refer to one or more of agroup of common objects. They may be singular orplural, and they are not capitalized unless they are at thebeginning of a sentence. Proper nouns are particular names,denoting a person or thing different from the common group.A proper noun begins with a capital letter.

Cindi Weineltk

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Is week a collective noun?

The team are playing in the test matches nextweek. A collective noun should not be treated as bothsingular and plural in the same construction; thus The family isdetermined to press its (not their) claim. Among the commoncollective nouns are committee, clergy, company, enemy,group, family, flock, public, and team.

Samoil Maibaum

Explainer

What is a group of people called?

A collective noun is a word that refers to a set orgroup of people, animals or things. Collective Nouns arealso called Group Nouns and Group Names. Agroup of Albatross is called a Rookery.

Georg Ganau

Explainer

Is Lion a common noun?

The noun lion is a common noun, a word forany lion of any kind. A proper noun is the name of aspecific person, place, thing, or a title.

Shahid Sapela

Pundit

What is a group of children called?

TIL a group of children is called an"ingratitude" : childfree. r/childfree.

Zhaneta Christensen

Pundit

What do you call a group of stones?

Collective noun of the word 'stone' is 'henge'Explanation. A collective noun is a singular noun, such as'committee' or 'team' that refers to a group of people,things, or animals.

Telmo Kusgen

Pundit

What verb does Jury use?

Correct: The jury were divided in their opinion.Group nouns (e.g. committee, jury, army, team, family etc.)are followed by singular verbs when the group is thought ofas a single unit. But when individual members of the group arethought of, the plural verb is used.

Sebastian Grushevsky

Pundit

Is hair singular or plural?

Hair is both countable and uncountable Noun, butit is usually singular when it refers to all thehairs on one's head. But if it refers to more than onehair, a few hairs, then it takes the pluralform and needs a plural verb.

Sevastita Knak

Pundit

Is police singular or plural?

The word "police" is rather special: It has nosingular noun form. Something like that police overthere is securing the scene would be incorrect. One would alwaysconstruct sentences in the plural form like so: Thepolice are out in force today.

Frederic Groniger

Teacher

Is neither singular or plural?

A plural verb is more informal: Neither ofmy parents speaks/speak a foreign language. Whenneither… nor… or either… or… areused with two singular nouns, the verb can be singular orplural. A plural verb is more informal. The OxfordLearner's Dictionary provides advice which I think ismisleading.

Iesha Webb

Teacher

What is a complete prepositional phrase?

A prepositional phrase is a group of wordsconsisting of a preposition, its object, and any words thatmodify the object. Most of the time, a prepositional phrasemodifies a verb or a noun. The object can be a noun, a gerund (averb form ending in “-ing” that acts as a noun), or aclause.

Nuri Franzen

Teacher

Is jury a collective noun?

Committee is a collective noun, just like thenouns jury, flock, herd, class, choir, team, family, andother words that refer to a single unit consisting of more than oneperson or thing.

Adonais Karpers

Teacher

What type of noun is verdict?

- Quora. Which type of noun is the wordverdict? Paul Bennington is right. In addition, it's acountable noun.

Sumia Mercedes

Reviewer

Who is a juror?

juror. Anyone who's a member of a jury in a courtof law is called a juror. When you serve as a juror,you're part of a group that hears evidence in a trial and gives averdict. A juror is typically one of twelve people who swearto make an impartial, unbiased decision based on legalevidence.

Liman Chugaev

Reviewer

What is the plural of person?

◊ The plural of person is usually peopleexcept in formal or legal contexts, where the plural isoften persons. She is a very nice/shy/interestingperson.

Gersain Thevenin

Reviewer

What is the plural of staff?

For staff in the sense of "a body of employees",the plural is always staff; otherwise, both staffsand staves are acceptable, except in compounds, such asflagstaffs.

Huberto Guine

Reviewer

What is the difference between person and personnel?

"Personnel," which refers to multiple people, hasmore letters than "personal," which refers to just oneperson. "Personnel" includes the letter "e," which isthe first letter in the word "employee." "Personnel"almost always relates to the employees of a business ororganization.

Inacio Zhikharevitch

Supporter

Is human resources plural or singular?

In the example given, Human Resources isshorthand for the Human Resources Department. It islogically singular. As such, the verb should be is. In manymodern companies, human resources are their most valuableassets.

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30th June, 2020

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