Focus on nominals: practice grammar book for intermediate learners of English. Бочарова М.В - 22 стр.

6a. The __________ going to lose again. It is/they are useless.
6b. A cricket __________ made up of eleven players, including its/their captain.
7a. I wanted to know what the ___________ thinking.
7b. I could see that the ____________ attacking.


TASK 31. Now look carefully at the contexts above and complete the rule be-
low with ‘singular’ or ‘plural’:


With COLLECTIVE NOUNS IN THE SINGULAR, like FAMILY, TEAM,
GOVERNMENT,            STAFF,      CREW,        PARTY,   SCHOOL   and   others,
____________ forms of verbs and pronouns are common when the group is
considered as a collection of people doing PERSONAL things like deciding,
feeling, hoping or wanting, and in these cases we use WHO, not which as a
relative pronoun.

____________ forms (with which as a relative pronoun) are more common
when the group is seen as an IMPERSONAL unit.


Sometimes, however, singular and plural forms are mixed, e.g.:
The group gave its first concert in June and they are already booked up for
the next six months.


  TASK 32. Use these collective nouns to complete the sentences that follow.
               Audience, crew, cattle, enemy, gang, government,
                    family, media, public, staff, team, police
   1.   Take cover. The __________are attacking.
   2.   Do you think Liverpool are the best________in Europe?
   3.   Dad is out. But the rest of the _______are at home.
   4.   The ________has decided to increase taxes.

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