In British English, collective nouns like family, team, government etc can be used with either singular or plural verbs and pronouns.

Our team is / are going to lose.

Plural forms are preferred when the group is considered as a collection of individuals doing personal things like deciding, thinking, arguing, wanting or hoping. In these cases they is used as a pronoun to refer back to the collective noun.

My family are living in different parts of India. They visit one another every now and then.
My staff are wonderful. They do all they can for me.

Singular forms are more common when the group is seen as an impersonal unit. In these cases, it is used as a personal pronoun to refer back to the collective noun.

The jury is in the court room. It is expected to announce its verdict in a few minutes.

Sometimes singular and plural forms are mixed.

The group gave its first concert in May and they are already booked up for the next six months.

Here is a list of collective nouns which can be used with both singular and plural verbs in British English:
bank, the BBC, choir, class, club, committee, family, firm, government, jury, ministry, orchestra, committee, party, public, school, staff, team, union

In American English, collective nouns are usually used with singular verbs. Plural pronouns can be used.

The team is full of enthusiasm. They are confident of winning.
OR The team is full of enthusiasm. It is confident of winning.

Singular expressions with plural verbs and pronouns

Many singular quantifying expressions are normally used with plural verbs and pronouns. Examples are: a number of, a group of, a couple of, a lot of, the majority of etc

A couple of my friends are going to open a finance company. (More natural than 'A couple of my friends is going to open a finance company')
A number of people have tried to solve the puzzle, but they have all failed. (More natural than 'A number of people has tried to solve...)

Plurals with no singular forms

Many English nouns do not have singular forms. Cattle, for example, has no singular. It is a word used collectively to talk about bulls, cows and calves. Note that cattle cannot be used for counting individual animals. You cannot, for example, say four cattle.

Many cattle are suffering from a disease called BSE. (NOT Many cattle is...) (NOT Much cattle is...)

Police is usually plural.

The police have arrested five suspected drug traffickers. (NOT The police has arrested...)

Trousers, jeans, pyjamas, (US pajamas), pants, scales, scissors, tongs, shears, tweezers, glasses, binoculars, pliers and the names of several divided objects are plural and have no singular forms.

Tweezers are useful when handling stamps. (NOT A tweezer is useful...)
Garden shears were used to clip the hedge. (NOT A garden shear is used to...)
The binoculars are handy at the races.
His new glasses were on the table.
Your jeans are too tight.

Other common words which are normally plural include the following:
clothes, congratulations, manners, goods, oats, odds (= chances), premises (=building), regards, remains, savings, surroundings and thanks

Manjusha Nambiar is the founder and editor of Grammar English.Org. Her blog gives free English Grammar lessons, quizzes and grammar worksheets http://grammarenglish.org/english-grammar-worksheets.

[Edited by Administrator (admin) Wed, 06 Jul 2011, 03:28 PM]