Editing Collective noun (section)

=== Agreement in different forms of English ===
{{Main|American and British English grammatical differences#Subject-verb agreement}}

Confusion often stems from the way that different forms of English handle [[Agreement (linguistics)|agreement]] with collective nouns—specifically, whether or not to use the '''collective singular''': the singular verb form with a collective noun. The [[plural verb]] forms are often used in [[British English]] with the singular forms of these [[count noun|countable nouns]] (e.g., "The team ''have'' finished the project.").{{cn|date=April 2025}} Conversely, in the English language as a whole, singular verb forms can often be used with nouns ending in "-s" that were once considered plural (e.g., "Physics ''is'' my favorite academic subject"). This apparent "number mismatch" is a natural and logical feature of human language, and its mechanism is a subtle [[metonymy|metonymic]] shift in the concepts underlying the words.{{cn|date=April 2025}}

In British English, it is generally accepted that collective nouns can take either singular or plural verb forms depending on the context and the [[metonymy|metonymic]] shift that it implies. For example, "the team ''is'' in the dressing room" (''[[formal agreement]]'') refers to ''the team'' as an ensemble, while "the team ''are'' fighting among themselves" (''[[notional agreement]]'') refers to ''the team'' as individuals. That is also the British English practice with names of countries and cities in sports contexts (e.g., "[[Newcastle United F.C.|Newcastle]] ''have'' won the competition.").{{cn|date=April 2025}}

In [[American English]], collective nouns almost always take singular verb forms (formal agreement). In cases that a metonymic shift would be revealed nearby, the whole sentence should be recast to avoid the metonymy. (For example, "The team are fighting among themselves" may become "the team ''members'' are fighting among themselves" or simply "the team is infighting".) Collective [[proper noun]]s are usually taken as singular ("[[Apple Inc.|Apple]] is expected to release a new phone this year"), unless the plural is explicit in the proper noun itself, in which case it is taken as plural ("The [[Green Bay Packers]] are scheduled to play the [[Minnesota Vikings]] this weekend"). More explicit examples of collective proper nouns include "[[General Motors]] is once again the world's largest producer of vehicles", and "[[Texas Instruments]] is a large producer of [[electronics]] here", and "[[British Airways]] is an airline company in Europe". Furthermore, "[[American Telephone & Telegraph]] is a [[telecommunications]] company in North America". Such phrases might look plural, but they are not.{{cn|date=April 2025}}