Group Nouns

Some nouns refer to groups of people, animals or things:

We can use these group nouns either as singular nouns or as plural nouns:

My family is very dear to me.
I have a large family. They are very dear to me.

The government is very unpopular.
The government are always changing their minds.

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Sometimes we think of the group as a single thing:

The audience always enjoys the show.
The group consists of two men and three women.

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Sometimes we think of the group as several individuals:

The audience clapped their hands.
The largest group are the boys.

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The names of many organisations and teams are also group nouns, but they are usually plural in spoken English:

Barcelona are winning 2–0.
The United Oil Company are putting prices up by 12 per cent.

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and the police is always plural:

The police are offering a £5,000 reward.

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