collective noun - plural

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collective noun - plural

by confuse mind » Sat Aug 11, 2012 6:52 pm
Are collective nouns always singular on GMAT?
or
Can we treat them as singular if they refer to individuals of a collection.

e.g.,
The committee was divided in its opinions
vs
The committee were divided in their opinions.


Further, somewhere I read sometime back that the usage should be consistent in the sentence. But there can arise a need to use different forms. e.g.,

The committee has issued a report but they were divided in their opinions.

Is the above sentence correct or it goes against the consistency principle.

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by KapTeacherEli » Sat Aug 11, 2012 8:07 pm
Hi confuse,

The GMAT will always treat "the committee" as singular! If a sentence needs to refer to the committee as a plural of people, it will refer to "the members of the committee."

Good luck!
Eli Meyer
Kaplan GMAT Teacher
Cambridge, MA
www.kaptest.com/gmat

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