Both are not correct.imskpwr wrote:Please tell the difference bw these two sentences(both are correct):
"The committee",as collective noun, is always singular in GMAT !! Have you seen this kind of sentence in OG.HSPA wrote:the committee were fighting among themselves. {Here we use 'were' when representing each individual person in committee}
Thanks everyone for their valuable guidance. I have just started working on Manhattan SC(will definitely take OG problems). But need some guidance on this section esp "American English".essaysnark wrote:Hi all --
Important consideration here: Collective nouns are almost always singular in American English. The use of the plural with a collective noun sounds completely foreign to this American ear! This was discussed some time ago over here and we're pretty sure it still applies -- see the 4th comment in particular (can't say that the GMAT still has not ever used the "collective noun/plural" on an actual problem but it's good to note): https://www.manhattangmat.com/forums/sc- ... t3514.html
Also, in the example being discussed in this thread, it should be "amongst" not "among" - and, we can't say for sure that the plural is correct or not in that second one!
We would be willing to bet money that a statement like "The committee were fighting over some issues" would NEVER be found on a GMAT problem. Even doubtful that the modified "The committee were fighting amongst themselves" would show up... but we're no expert.
EssaySnark
(Emphasis added.)https://www.800score.com/guidec4view1c.html wrote: The flock of birds is flying south.
Again, the "flock of birds" is referred to as a singular group - we're not talking about each bird's direction of flight, but the direction of the flock as a whole - thus it requires the singular verb "is," not the plural verb "are."
The team are always fighting amongst themselves.
This is an example of a collective noun that requires a plural verb. You will not see this very often on the GMAT, but it's useful to illustrate the necessity of reading the entire sentence and visualizing what it describes: while 'team' is often used as a singular collective noun, in this case, the sentence describes the fighting that occurs between the individual members of the team. "Team" therefore refers to several individual members, and requires a plural verb, "are," as a result.
