jury : singular/ plural

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confuse mind: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 462; Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2011 1:08 pmFollowed by: 4 members; Thanked: 10 times

by confuse mind » Thu Jun 16, 2011 2:37 am

what is correct?

The jury was sequestered so that ...
or
The jury were sequestered so that ...

I feel it the members of jury who are sequestered and not the jury in itself, and thus, i feel it must be were but the correct answer of was

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Sentence Correction | Thu Jun 16, 2011 2:37 am

vineeshp: Legendary Member; Posts: 965; Joined: Thu Jan 28, 2010 12:52 amFollowed by: 34 members; Thanked: 156 times; GMAT Score:720

by vineeshp » Thu Jun 16, 2011 2:54 am

Jury is a collective noun and is singular. Atleast on the GMAT.

Vineesh,
Just telling you what I know and think. I am not the expert.

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vikram4689: Legendary Member; Posts: 1325; Joined: Sun Nov 01, 2009 6:24 amFollowed by: 14 members; Thanked: 105 times

by vikram4689 » Thu Jun 16, 2011 2:56 am

jury is singular, unless members of jury isn't mentioned take it singular. And the case ou mentioned will always be there because jury is not a physical entity. For e.g. Jury takes the decision in Court. Now its the members of jury that take decision and NOT jury but even then we use SINGULAR.

Please post the question (if any) in which you faced this.

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Frankenstein: Legendary Member; Posts: 1448; Joined: Tue May 17, 2011 9:55 amFollowed by: 53 members; Location: India; Thanked: 375 times

by Frankenstein » Thu Jun 16, 2011 3:00 am

confuse mind wrote:what is correct?

The jury was sequestered so that ...
or
The jury were sequestered so that ...

I feel it the members of jury who are sequestered and not the jury in itself, and thus, i feel it must be were but the correct answer of was

Hi,
Jury as a whole sequestered..so the jury as a collective noun takes singular verb.
But, if you intend to refer to the members considered as individuals, it will take plural verb.
Example: The jury were divided on a single point.

Cheers!

Things are not what they appear to be... nor are they otherwise

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samurai.bharat: Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts; Posts: 1; Joined: Sun Aug 31, 2014 3:05 am

by samurai.bharat » Sat Nov 01, 2014 6:04 am

Guys help me out with this:

The jury must consist of at least seven potential jurors.
or
The jury must consists of at least seven potential jurors.

Which one is correct?

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[email protected]: Elite Legendary Member; Posts: 10392; Joined: Sun Jun 23, 2013 6:38 pmFollowed by: 511 members; Location: Palo Alto, CA; Thanked: 2867 times; GMAT Score:800

by [email protected] » Sat Nov 01, 2014 10:11 am

Hi samurai.bharat,

The first option is correct:

The jury must consist of at least seven potential jurors.

Here, the very "must" agrees with "the jury" and the verb "consist" serves as an infinitive.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

Contact Rich at [email protected]

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