Summary:
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For a group of animals, objects, or used to refer to time, money, numbers, etc., we always use the singular, even if the noun that follows is plural.
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For nouns used to refer to a group of people, depending on the speaker's intention, the verb can be divided into singular or plural depending on the situation.
Collective noun is a noun used to refer to a group of people, animals, objects, or concepts.
For example: From team is made up of many members, but we combine all members into one unit and use a team to call on it.
Collective nouns are very important for grammar points Agreement between Verb and Subject Because whether the verb that accompanies it is divided into singular or plural will depend greatly on that noun.
Some Noun Collection Frequent:
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Used to refer to a group of people |
Used to refer to a collection of animals or objects |
Used to refer to time, money, measurements |
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family group / team committee / council / board class company / corporation crowd audience department / faculty |
a pride of lions a school of dolphins a flock of birds / sheep / goats a bunch of flowers a pack of dogs / wolves a herd of cattle a pair of scissors / glasses |
two days two hours fifty dollars ten liters of water |
How to use:
- For collective nouns that refer to a collection of animals, objects, or to refer to time, money, numbers, etc., we always use the singular, even if the noun that follows is in plural. For example:
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A flock of birds flies overhead.
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A herd of cattle was sold.
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Ten dollars is too expensive for a cake.
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Two hours is not enough to finish this task.
- For nouns used to refer to a group of people, depending on the speaker's intention, the verb can be divided into singular or plural depending on the situation:
+ When you want to refer to an entire group ⇒ use the singular
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Our team is not played very well this season. → just in general the group doesn't play well
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My family is big → refers to a large family (many people)
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A group of girls is going to the zoo. → The whole group went to the zoo
+ When you want to refer to each member in a group ⇒ use plural
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Our team are not played very well this season. → implies that each member of the group is not playing well
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My family agree with her ideas → implies that each family member agrees with her opinion
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A group of girls are going to the zoo. → the whole group went to the zoo but they didn't go together.
2. The subject has a prepositional phrase that modifies it
- When there is a prepositional phrase modifying the subject, we ignore that prepositional phrase, and the verb will be conjugated according to the main noun in the entire subject phrase.
For example:
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Tom, together with his friends, wants to join the football team.
→ Tom, along with his friends, wants to join the football team.
→ verb wants divide accordingly Tom
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Jim, along with his parents, travels to Europe.
→ Jim, along with his parents, traveled to Europe.
→ verb travels divide accordingly Jim
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The teacher as well as her students disagrees with the new rule.
→ The teacher as well as her students did not approve of the new rules.
→ verb disagrees divide accordingly the teacher
- Some other examples:
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The plans for the project are proposed by Chad.
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Copies of the meeting agenda are not distributed to outsiders.
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Production of cars is significantly low this month.
Jim, along with his parents, travels to Europe.
3. Some pronouns and nouns are unclear as to whether they are singular or plural
Summary:
Some pronouns and nouns are unclear about singular or plural:
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If it is referring to a singular noun → use a singular verb
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If it is referring to a plural noun → use a plural verb
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If it is referring to an uncountable noun → use a singular verb
- Pronouns are unclear
In English, there are some pronouns that are clearly singular or plural
For example:
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he: singular
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they: many
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another: singular
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others: many
However, there are some pronouns that do not clearly indicate whether they are representing a singular or plural or uncountable noun, for example:
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mine → can be singular or plural, depending on whether mine is one thing or many things
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all → can be singular or plural, depending on whether "all" is taking the place of a plural or uncountable noun
- The general rule for such pronouns is:
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If it is referring to a singular noun → use a singular verb
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If it is referring to a plural noun → use a plural verb
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If it is referring to an uncountable noun → use a singular verb
Below are the pronouns with which we conjugate the verb singular or plural depending on the situation:
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The following indefinite pronouns: all, none, some, any, more, most
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Interrogative pronouns: what, which, who, whose
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Possessive pronouns: mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs
For example:
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Her car is expensive, but mine is cheap.
→ Her car is expensive, and mine is cheap.
→ Mine is pointing to my car, but car is a singular noun, so we take a singular verb.
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These phones are sturdy. All were made in Japan.
→ These phones are very durable. All are made in Japan.
→ All is pointing to phones, is a plural noun, so we take a plural verb.
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I wanted to get some sugar but all was gone.
→ I wanted to get some sugar but all the sugar was gone.
→ All is pointing to sugar, is an uncountable noun, so we take the singular verb.
These phones are sturdy. All were made in Japan.
- The noun is unclear
Similar to above, we also have some nouns that do not clearly indicate whether they are representing a plural or uncountable noun, for example:
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the rest: the remaining ones (plural), the rest (uncountable)
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the following: the next (singular), the next ones (plural)
And similar to above, the general principle is:
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If it is referring to a singular noun → use a singular verb
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If it is referring to a plural noun → use a plural verb
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If it is referring to an uncountable noun → use a singular verb
For example:
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There are ten pencils. Two of them are blue and the rest are pink.
→ the rest is referring to 8 pencils so the verb must be plural.
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The following is the last sentence he said before he died.
→ the following is referring to a statement, so the verb must be singular.
4. All / Some / Most / Half ? The rest ... of
- When used with the structures "all / some / half / most / the rest... of", the verb is singular or plural depending on the noun that comes after it. For example:
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Most of the food is prepared by Jane's mother.
→ verb conjugation according to food is an uncountable noun.
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Most of the students in class get high scores in the test..
→ verb conjugation according to students is a plural countable noun
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Some of the firms agree with this policy.
→ verb conjugation according to firms is a plural countable noun
5. A number of / The number of
- When used with structures a number of and the number of
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a number of + noun ⇒ the verb is plural, because a number of does that mean several (some, a few).
→ A number of researchers are expected to attend the conference.
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the number of + noun ⇒ the verb is singular, because the number of means quantity.
→ The number of homeless people has increased dramatically.
A number of researchers are expected to attend the conference.
6. When used with structures in Correlative Conjunctions
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Both A and B ⇒ the verb is plural
→ Both Mary and my parents visit me this summer.
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Either A or B / Neither A nor B / Not only A but also B ⇒ verb conjugated according to B
→ Either Mary or my parents visit me this summer. → verb conjugation according to parents
→ Neither my parents nor Mary visits me this summer. → verb conjugation according to Mary
→ Not only my parents but also Mary visits me this summer. → verb conjugation according to Mary
7. Summary
Memorize:
- Collective nouns:
→ For a set of animals, objects, or used to refer to time, money, numbers, etc., we always use the singular, even if the noun that follows is plural.
→ For nouns that refer to a group of people, depending on the speaker's intention, the verb can be singular or plural depending on the situation.
-
Subject with prepositional phrase: We ignore that modifier prepositional phrase, and the verb will be divided according to the main noun in the whole subject phrase.
- Some pronouns and nouns are unclear about whether they are singular or plural or are uncountable:
→ If it is referring to a singular noun → use a singular verb
→ If it is referring to a plural noun → use a plural verb
→ If it is referring to an uncountable noun → use a singular verb
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Structures "all / some / half / most / the rest... of": Whether the verb is singular or plural depends on the noun that comes after it.
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Structures in Correlative Conjunctions:
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Both A and B ⇒ plural verb
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Either A or B / Neither A nor B / Not only A but also B ⇒ động từ chia theo B