Chapter 1 Common Grammar Mistakes
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collective nouns
Bonnie in Albany writes to Mrs. B, all in a tiz, about collective
nouns and the wrong pronouns she hears used with them:
"City council was busy last night. `They' passed several new
laws. OHHH!!!! It drives me CRAZY. Boards are SINGULAR,
SINGULAR, SINGULAR!"
Take a deep breath, Bonnie.
You're absolutely right.
Collective nouns such as jury, committee, audience, crowd, class,
troop, team, council, legislature, and board refer to a group but are
SINGULAR in form, so they usually take a singular verb and a
singular pronoun.
v
City council WAS busy last night; IT passed several new laws.
v
The planning committee granted ITS permission to build.
v
The jury HAS reached ITS decision.
But if you have a reason to draw attention to the individual members
of the group, treat the collective noun as PLURAL.
v
The committee put THEIR signatures on the document.
Mrs. B thinks collective nouns are tantalizing.
But she's a little worried about Bonnie's blood pressure.
