Post by account_disabled on Dec 25, 2023 4:23:53 GMT
A collective noun – we learned it in elementary school – represents a set, a group, of things, animals, people. Collective nouns are team, army, mass, pile, deck, herd, class, flock, etc. And I can also, obviously, have the plural. What verb will we use for a collective noun? I wanted to write this post because I often notice, both reading here and there and listening to pearls of wisdom on television, the use of the singular person, when instead the plural should be used. Let's look at some examples to clarify the situation.
A mass of demonstrators burst into the square : it is the most common mistake. The subject is “a mass” and is singular. So he wants the verb in the singular. The correct sentence is: a mass of Special Data demonstrators burst into the square . A horde of armed men screaming : the use of the plural is fine here, because there is the "che", a relative pronoun that links the armed men to the verb scream. If we had combined the verb with the subject "horde", the sentence would have been a little out of tune: a horde of armed men screaming . The result in this other sentence is different: the horde of armed men was destroyed . In this case the verb to use is only the singular. A pile of rubble blocked the road : another frequent mistake.
I agree that it is the rubble that blocks the road, but not all of it, just a lot. The subject is singular and the verb therefore goes in the singular: a pile of rubble was blocking the road . Alternatively you can write: a pile of rubble, which was blocking the road, was removed by a rescue vehicle . Again the use of the pronoun “che” connects the plural of rubble to the plural verb. In conclusion, to avoid making mistakes, always pay attention to the subject of the sentence , which must be followed by a suitable verb form.
A mass of demonstrators burst into the square : it is the most common mistake. The subject is “a mass” and is singular. So he wants the verb in the singular. The correct sentence is: a mass of Special Data demonstrators burst into the square . A horde of armed men screaming : the use of the plural is fine here, because there is the "che", a relative pronoun that links the armed men to the verb scream. If we had combined the verb with the subject "horde", the sentence would have been a little out of tune: a horde of armed men screaming . The result in this other sentence is different: the horde of armed men was destroyed . In this case the verb to use is only the singular. A pile of rubble blocked the road : another frequent mistake.
I agree that it is the rubble that blocks the road, but not all of it, just a lot. The subject is singular and the verb therefore goes in the singular: a pile of rubble was blocking the road . Alternatively you can write: a pile of rubble, which was blocking the road, was removed by a rescue vehicle . Again the use of the pronoun “che” connects the plural of rubble to the plural verb. In conclusion, to avoid making mistakes, always pay attention to the subject of the sentence , which must be followed by a suitable verb form.
