I have found some grammar rules doing Google search and found a rule about collective noun:-
Collective nouns such as team and staff may be either singular or plural depending on their use in the sentence.
Examples:
The staff is in a meeting.
Staff is acting as a unit here.
The staff are in disagreement about the findings.
The staff are acting as separate individuals in this example.
The sentence would read even better as:
The staff members are in disagreement about the findings.
Do we see this getting tested in GMAT? Or is "collective noun"always singular?
Grammar Rule for Collective Nouns
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Can you please explain when is it singular and when is it pluralshrutib wrote:I have found some grammar rules doing Google search and found a rule about collective noun:-
Collective nouns such as team and staff may be either singular or plural depending on their use in the sentence.
Examples:
The staff is in a meeting.
Staff is acting as a unit here.
The staff are in disagreement about the findings.
The staff are acting as separate individuals in this example.
The sentence would read even better as:
The staff members are in disagreement about the findings.
Do we see this getting tested in GMAT? Or is "collective noun"always singular?
Ankita
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Many collective nouns seem plural but are actually singular, for example: audience, committee, family, flock, group, staff, team
The police - always PLURAL
The police - always PLURAL
Kasia
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Can you please explain when is it singular and when is it plural
@Ankita, it is already explained in the original post. My question was whether it is tested on GMAT?
Kasia has already mentioned few points. you can take a note of it.
Thanks.
- Kasia@EconomistGMAT
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Collective nouns which I have already mentioned are treated as singular in the GMAT. The word "the police" is an exception.Collective nouns are tested in Sentence Correction questions concerned with Subject Verb Agreement.
e.g. The audience were applauding the artists very loudly. - incorrect
Whenever you see this kind of a mistake, you know it should be corrected to a singular form.
e.g. The audience were applauding the artists very loudly. - incorrect
Whenever you see this kind of a mistake, you know it should be corrected to a singular form.
Kasia
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