Hello grammar people: collective nouns

[binkie]

Do they take a plural or a singular verb?

Eg: The Board of Directors have reviewed? or has? I'm thinking has. What do you think?

has - the Board is singular

go - on - someone shoot me down

Agree with mazz

I'd say has too.... actually I'd say "The board of directors reviewed xyz...."

ooh raw nerve there hausfrau, poor you!
Good, thank you all, that's what sounded right to me.

BTW, I was talking about collective nouns to ds & he suggested "traffic" as one. Is he right? I thought not, but couldn't say why - something about "a traffic of cars" being wrong - but is "a Something of Somethings" the only form a collective noun can have?

yes, we were doing schools of fish and herds of sheep and making ones up like a snarl of commuters (we were on our way to school through Paddington)

"I tried to resist this one" is SOOO much more diplomatic and gracious than "PARP"

thank you

er it's herd of cows and flock of sheep, isn't it

Which is strange, isn't it, because shepherds do herd sheep, don't they?

I think it should be a snuggle of sheep

Singular! Singular! Singular!

Please don't start me on this one, please, please, or I will be led away gibbering.

I shout at the BBC news regularly when the announcer says 'the government have', and subside just before frothing up again when someone says 'anarchy' when they mean 'chaos'.

useless terminology alert:
traffic, money, sugar etc are 'mass nouns'
cars, coins, sweets etc are 'count nouns'

Yeah MI why is it that the Beeb and all their highly paid journalists don't know what any fule regional hack knows that it's the council has, the government is etc etc
grrrrrrr

whoops I mean the Beeb and all its highly paid journos etc etc

Am in thread heaven, love oiky grammar stuff.

the beeb, highly paid journalists? ((from v lowly paid one)) (I do singular btw )parp

sorry bundle, obviously I don't mean you.

I always correct dd1 when she gets things wrong and my MIL rolls her eyes at me as she is only 3. But it drives me mad.

MI are you Lynne Truss??!!!

xx