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Sentence Grammar |
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Verbs |
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Maintaining Agreement |
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Nouns that refer to groups of people or things are called collective nouns. The following words are collective nouns:
army
family
audience
flock
assembly
group
company
herd
couple
jury
crowd
squad
faculty
team
When you want to show that the group is acting as one unit, use a singular verb A verb indicates the meaning of a sentence as it shows action, occurrence, or state of being. Verbs change form to show time, voice, number, person, and mood. In the following sentence, the verb have is used correctly: Ben and Ted have so many friends.
, as in the following examples:
The faculty is happy with the new administration.
The committee has finished its work for the semester.
The couple was married last week.
However, if you want to convey the idea that members of the group are acting separately, use a plural verb, as in the following examples:
The faculty have posted their schedules on their doors.
The committee have disagreed about raising tuition.
NOTE: To be perfectly clear, you might rephrase the sentences in this way:
The members of the faculty have posted their schedules on their doors.
The committee members have disagreed about raising tuition.
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Click the correct sentence. |
| Yes. In this sentence, has is correct. |
| No. In this sentence, have is not correct. |
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