freemanfamilyof6 Posted November 6, 2013 Share Posted November 6, 2013 Ok, I realize I should know this answer but I don't. I did google it but still didn't get the answer. My 7 year old daughter is doing IEW Bible Heroes and wrote this sentence. "The Israelite army, who were afraid of Goliath, were protecting their homes. I think it should be WAS instead of WERE, because I think army is singular (one army, right?). Is that correct? She is an excellent writing, so I want to tell her right. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbara H Posted November 6, 2013 Share Posted November 6, 2013 I'm a fan of adding a word to avoid the issue. Explained here... http://www.grammar-monster.com/lessons/singular_plural_%20collective_noun.htm Hope that helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klmama Posted November 6, 2013 Share Posted November 6, 2013 Yes, the army was. The soliders were. I would change "army" to "soldiers" in order to maintain the rest of the sentence as it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted November 6, 2013 Share Posted November 6, 2013 Change the sentence to avoid conundrums like this, because it is more complicated. As long as the units of a collective noun are doing the same action together, it is "was": The army was afraid. But as soon as they do different things, or the emphasis is on the individual effort, it is "were". The army were protecting their homes means, each army member is off protecting his home. The army was protecting their homes means, the army as a whole is protecting sombody's homes. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/599/01/ 10. Collective nouns are words that imply more than one person but that are considered singular and take a singular verb, such as group, team, committee, class, and family. The team runs during practice. The committee decides how to proceed. The family has a long history. My family has never been able to agree. In some cases in American English, a sentence may call for the use of a plural verb when using a collective noun. The crew are preparing to dock the ship. This sentence is referring to the individual efforts of each crew member Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freemanfamilyof6 Posted November 6, 2013 Author Share Posted November 6, 2013 Thanks for all the input. We will be adding a word to fix this sentence. Great insight and helpful info. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.