Collective Nouns

Examples

family team community army navy club union

group population crowd       ...

Definition

A collective noun refer to group of nouns. 

Collective Nouns in Sentences

1. My family is the best family in my community. 
2. My family work for the government. 
3. The government plans to reform its administration.
4. The police are searching for a missing boy. 

Verbs after Collective Nouns

Collective nouns can take both singular verbs (is/plans) and plural verbs (are/work)

1. Singular verbs: as a whole group (my family = one family)
2. Plural verbs: as individuals in the group (my family = all my family members)

Police, cattle, and livestock have plural meaning and take plural verbs. 

1. The police were in a bad situation.