264. Highlight on Writing: Collective Nouns

We said yesterday that even though a collective noun has many pieces inside of it, a collective noun is a singular noun.

However, if we talk about each of the members inside a collective noun, the collective noun becomes plural.

Look at this sentence:
The family are all eating separately tonight.
This sentence talks about each separate family member, so now the collective noun family is plural. The family is no longer one thing; the plural family is many individuals.

It can get confusing for you to use collective nouns as both singular and plural. My suggestion is to always use a collective noun as a singular noun – like we talked about yesterday. If you want to talk about the separate people inside a collective noun, it’s a good idea to add the word members.

Look at this example:
The family members are all eating separately tonight.
Now it makes sense to use the plural verb are because it’s obvious that family members is a plural noun.

Here is another example:
The family members all chose their own meals.
Now it makes sense to use the plural pronoun their because it’s obvious that family members is a plural noun.

My advice to you: use a collective noun as a singular noun – one solid group.
When you want to talk about the individuals inside a collective noun, add the word members before using a plural verb or pronoun. It will make your writing clearer.

Here are some examples of a collective noun used as a singular noun and then with members as plural noun:
The troop is meeting on Wednesday.
The troop members are meeting on Wednesday.
Our band is having a party.
The band members are having a party.
The team won its first game.
The team members celebrated their first win.