Subject - Verb Agreement - Collective Noun

Subject - Verb Agreement - Collective Nouns

by Onay Bejo

​​Collective nouns

family committee government

team group public

army navy flock

colony audience council

jury class band

majority board enemy

About ​ a sentence in English

• ​ Every English sentence must have a subject and a verb.

•  The Verb must agree with the Subject

​a subject and a verb

​A subject is a noun. A noun can be a countable noun or an uncountable noun. An uncountable noun is singular. A countable noun can be singular (single or one) or plural (more than one)

​

​A verb can be verbs that show action, auxiliaries ( be, am, is are, was, were, do, does, did, have, has, had) or modals

​The Verb must agree with the Subject

​The basic concept of subject-verb agreement is that verbs must agree in person and in number with their subjects. If the subject of a sentence is singular, then the verb must be singular. If the subject of a sentence is plural, then the verb must be plural.

​

​For example: The girl walks to school.

​ The girls walk to school.

​Collective Nouns

​A collective noun can be singular or plural.

​Collective nouns referring to the unit as a whole are followed by singular verbs.

​Collective nouns referring to the different members comprising the unit are

followed by plural verbs.

​

​

​Collective Nouns

​For example:

​Manchester United was founded in 1878.

​

Manchester United are playing againts Liverpool tonight.

​

​In the first sentence Manchester United refers to a club, a football club, a unit, so it is singular. In the second sentence, Manchester United refers to a a team, a group of people who are playing football, so it is plural.

Subject - Verb Agreement - Collective Nouns​

So to choose the correct verb, we must decide if the subject is singular or plural by seeing a collective noun as a unit (singular) or a group of people/members (plural).

​Let's practice...

Multiple Choice

The class are doing an exam.

• Correct

• Incorrect

Multiple Choice

The class are doing an exam. The subject is "class". Is "class"

• a unit?

• a group of people?

Multiple Choice

The class are doing an exam. The subject is "class". Is "class"

• singular?

• plural?

Open Ended

The class are doing an exam.

What is the verb?

Multiple Choice

Is the verb "are doing"

• singular?

• plural?

Multiple Choice

The class are doing an exam.

• Correct

• Incorrect

​Let's try it once more.

​

​"The family has been arriving from different towns."

​

​Is the sentence correct or incorrect?

Multiple Choice

The family has been arriving from different towns.

The subject is "family". Is "family"

• a unit?

• a group of people?

Multiple Choice

The family has been arriving from different towns.

The subject is "family". Is "family"

• singular?

• plural?

Open Ended

The family has been arriving from different towns.

What is the verb?

Multiple Choice

Is the verb "has been arriving"

• singular?

• plural?

Multiple Choice

The family has been arriving from different towns.

• correct

• incorrect