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Team,government,company etc are sometimes taken to be singular as well as pluralFightWithGMAT wrote:Well, in colloquial English, we keep hearing "France team win the game".
What is the standard in GMAT
team wins
or
team win
Police come
or
Police comes
Both Seem to be correct.beat_gmat_09 wrote:Which one is correct -
1) The Team has issued its performance report.
2) The Team are divided on one minor point.
As far as my knowledge goes, collective nouns are singular, is the second statement correct ?
arpita@gurome wrote:Both the sentences are correct. Collective nouns can be singular as well as plural depending on the their usage.
In the first sentence, "The Team has issued its performance report" - the meaning the sentence conveys is that he entire team has collectively issued a report. The "team" is treated as a singular unit and should therefore be followed by a singular verb.
In the second sentence, "The Team are divided on one minor point" - the meaning the sentence conveys is that the members of the team do not agree on a minor point. Here the focus is on individual team members rather than the team as a collective unit, therefore the plural verb "are" is appropriate.
Here is one more example from the Gurome Sentence Correction Book which will help you understand the concept better:
While the play was being performed the audience was a picture of silence and showed its appreciation; the minute the play came to an end the audience rushed to get out of their seats and head towards their cars.
In the first sentence, "the audience" is treated as a single unit, but in the second sentence, the focus is on individual members of the audience.
Hope that helps.
chakao wrote:arpita@gurome wrote:Both the sentences are correct. Collective nouns can be singular as well as plural depending on the their usage.
In the first sentence, "The Team has issued its performance report" - the meaning the sentence conveys is that he entire team has collectively issued a report. The "team" is treated as a singular unit and should therefore be followed by a singular verb.
In the second sentence, "The Team are divided on one minor point" - the meaning the sentence conveys is that the members of the team do not agree on a minor point. Here the focus is on individual team members rather than the team as a collective unit, therefore the plural verb "are" is appropriate.
Here is one more example from the Gurome Sentence Correction Book which will help you understand the concept better:
While the play was being performed the audience was a picture of silence and showed its appreciation; the minute the play came to an end the audience rushed to get out of their seats and head towards their cars.
In the first sentence, "the audience" is treated as a single unit, but in the second sentence, the focus is on individual members of the audience.
Hope that helps.
Is the following sentence correct:-
A majority of the shareholders wants the merger.
I have a hunch it should be
A majority of the shareholders want the merger.
All help is appreciated!
Hey reply2spg,reply2spg wrote:If I am not wrong then 'a majority' works like 'a number'. Since 'a number' is plural , 'a majority' is also plural.
chakao wrote:arpita@gurome wrote:Both the sentences are correct. Collective nouns can be singular as well as plural depending on the their usage.
In the first sentence, "The Team has issued its performance report" - the meaning the sentence conveys is that he entire team has collectively issued a report. The "team" is treated as a singular unit and should therefore be followed by a singular verb.
In the second sentence, "The Team are divided on one minor point" - the meaning the sentence conveys is that the members of the team do not agree on a minor point. Here the focus is on individual team members rather than the team as a collective unit, therefore the plural verb "are" is appropriate.
Here is one more example from the Gurome Sentence Correction Book which will help you understand the concept better:
While the play was being performed the audience was a picture of silence and showed its appreciation; the minute the play came to an end the audience rushed to get out of their seats and head towards their cars.
In the first sentence, "the audience" is treated as a single unit, but in the second sentence, the focus is on individual members of the audience.
Hope that helps.
Is the following sentence correct:-
A majority of the shareholders wants the merger.
I have a hunch it should be
A majority of the shareholders want the merger.
All help is appreciated!
"Majority" is again one of those words in the English language that can be used as both singular and plural. You are quite correct in your "hunch" that in the sentence "A majority of the shareholders want the merger", the noun "majority" should be treated as plural because it refers to a collection of individuals. However, when the noun "majority" is used to indicate a collective group, "A 90% majority is opposed to the merger", it takes a singular verb.chakao wrote:arpita@gurome wrote:Both the sentences are correct. Collective nouns can be singular as well as plural depending on the their usage.
In the first sentence, "The Team has issued its performance report" - the meaning the sentence conveys is that he entire team has collectively issued a report. The "team" is treated as a singular unit and should therefore be followed by a singular verb.
In the second sentence, "The Team are divided on one minor point" - the meaning the sentence conveys is that the members of the team do not agree on a minor point. Here the focus is on individual team members rather than the team as a collective unit, therefore the plural verb "are" is appropriate.
Here is one more example from the Gurome Sentence Correction Book which will help you understand the concept better:
While the play was being performed the audience was a picture of silence and showed its appreciation; the minute the play came to an end the audience rushed to get out of their seats and head towards their cars.
In the first sentence, "the audience" is treated as a single unit, but in the second sentence, the focus is on individual members of the audience.
Hope that helps.
Is the following sentence correct:-
A majority of the shareholders wants the merger.
I have a hunch it should be
A majority of the shareholders want the merger.
All help is appreciated!
This is taken from OG.arpita@gurome wrote:"Majority" is again one of those words in the English language that can be used as both singular and plural. You are quite correct in your "hunch" that in the sentence "A majority of the shareholders want the merger", the noun "majority" should be treated as plural because it refers to a collection of individuals. However, when the noun "majority" is used to indicate a collective group, "A 90% majority is opposed to the merger", it takes a singular verb.chakao wrote:arpita@gurome wrote:Both the sentences are correct. Collective nouns can be singular as well as plural depending on the their usage.
In the first sentence, "The Team has issued its performance report" - the meaning the sentence conveys is that he entire team has collectively issued a report. The "team" is treated as a singular unit and should therefore be followed by a singular verb.
In the second sentence, "The Team are divided on one minor point" - the meaning the sentence conveys is that the members of the team do not agree on a minor point. Here the focus is on individual team members rather than the team as a collective unit, therefore the plural verb "are" is appropriate.
Here is one more example from the Gurome Sentence Correction Book which will help you understand the concept better:
While the play was being performed the audience was a picture of silence and showed its appreciation; the minute the play came to an end the audience rushed to get out of their seats and head towards their cars.
In the first sentence, "the audience" is treated as a single unit, but in the second sentence, the focus is on individual members of the audience.
Hope that helps.
Is the following sentence correct:-
A majority of the shareholders wants the merger.
I have a hunch it should be
A majority of the shareholders want the merger.
All help is appreciated!
Hope that helps.
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