collective noun

collective noun (substantiv med kollektiv betydning): a noun which refers to a group of people, e.g. family, team, committee. A particular feature of collective nouns is that they may occur with plural verbs and co-referential pronouns and determiners, even when the noun has singular form. When they occur with plural forms, the emphasis is on the group as consisting of several members, e.g. Manchester United are in the lead. They have not lost a single match in three months. (This is called 'distributive reading'.) When a collective noun co-occurs with singular verbs and pronouns, the emphasis is on the group as a unit ('unit reading'): The committee has its last meeting today, and will submit on Tuesday. The use of plural verbs with collective nouns occurs mainly in British English, while both American and British English may use plural pronouns to refer back to a collective noun.