Grammar – Intermediate

Plurals

Hiya. Check out the following sentences:

The police are investigating the crime scene.
The oil company have increased prices.
The government are puzzled about the crisis.
The firm have been continually laying off their employees for the last few weeks.
The family were a bit late for the film.

Okay. Here is what you have to know about nouns that refer to groups e.g. the police, the company, the community, the family, the government, the staff, the crew etc.

All these words are considered plural as these words talk about groups of people. That’s why it is more typical to say ‘the police are…’, ‘the family were…’, ‘the government don’t…’ and so on.

Is it still correct to say:

The police is investigating the crime scene;
The government is puzzled about the crisis;
The family was a bit late for the film?

Well, technically it is – but it is not as commonly used. Just stick to the plural form:

The police are investigating.

Please note that the same applies when you use a proper noun (the actual name of the thing); for example, Shell, the Robsons, Italy (as in the football team) etc.

Italy have won the championship.
Manchester United are fully prepared for the match of the year.
The Robsons were on time, as usual.
Shell have increased prices for the third time this year.

All right. Having said that, we’re gonna end this mini-lesson. Now go practise. See you soon.

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