It can be rather confusing to know how to use certain nouns in relation to singular or plural verbs. So, let's look at some examples of "collective nouns."

Basically, these are nouns that are singular in form but refer to a group of people or things. Verb use depends on whether the emphasis is on the whole entity or on individual members. The following sentences refer to the nouns as a whole entity and therefore use the singular (is, was):

The Government is making cuts in public services.

The Committee was undecided on the matter.

When focusing on the individual members of a group, we use the plural form (have, were):

The police have arrested the burglar.

The majority of the Board were in agreement.

When we refer to countries and organizations with a plural name, we always use the singular form:

The United States is the world's richest country.

The Netherlands is very flat.

The United Nations was in favour of taking action.

We also need to use a singular verb when a multiple subject forms a whole:

Reading and writing is a necessary part of an author's life.

Singing and dancing experience is essential if you work in the theatre.

Checking and processing the application forms is the job of the human resources personnel.

When we refer to academic subjects that end in "ics", such as economics, mathematics, statistics and so on, we use the singular verb form. However, if we are taking about them in other contexts, we use the plural:

Economics is not really thought of as a proper science subject.

Statistics is my least favourite subject at college.

The economics of the project were carefully checked.

The crime statistics were very worrying.

Many people feel confused as to whether the word "data" should be used as a singular or plural. It should only be used in the plural form of verbs because it is a plural noun. The singular is "datum", which is not frequently used.

John realised that the data were incorrect.

Also, it needs to be remembered that the word "none" takes either a singular or a plural verb - it depends on the context. "None" does not always mean "not one"; it can also mean "not any" which entails plurality:

The passage in the book is none too clear.

Almost none of the students were prepared for the test.

So, as you can see, there are several rules for using collective nouns. Knowledge of these rules will greatly help your writing and knowledge of grammar in general.

KJ Hutchings is the owner of KJ Language Services, providing proofreading, editing and writing services to businesses and students, in particular those who use English as a second language. For more information, visit her site at: http://www.kjlanguageservices.com/