A collective noun is a noun (such as team, committee, jury, squad, orchestra, crowd,

audience, and family) that refers to a group of individuals. Also known as a group noun.
In American English, collective nouns usually take singular verb forms. Collective nouns can be replaced
by both singular and plural pronouns, depending on their meaning.
See Examples and Observations below. Also, see:
Notional Agreement
Pronoun Agreement
Subject-Verb Agreement
Examples and Observations
"The family is one of nature's masterpieces."
Agreement With Collective Nouns
"Nouns such as committee, family, government, jury, and squad take a singular verb or pronoun when
thought of as a single unit, but a plural verb or pronoun when thought of as a collection of individuals:
The committee gave its unanimous approval to the plans.
The committee enjoyed biscuits with their tea.
"It is possible for singular collective nouns to be followed either by a singular or a plural verb form (see
number):
The audience was delighted with the performance.
The audience were delighted with the performance.
Colorful Collective Nouns
"Many noncount nouns have an equivalent countable expression using such words as piece or bit
(partitive or collective nouns) followed by of:
Luck: a piece of luck
Grass: a blade of grass
Bread: a loaf of bread
Venereal Nouns
"Venereal noun.
A noun denoting a collection of persons or things regarded as a unit, defining them through word
play..."
William Cobbett on Nouns of Multitude (1818)
"Nouns of number, or multitudes, such as Mob, Parliament, Rabble, House of Commons, Regiment,
Court of King's Bench, Den of Thieves, and the like, may have Pronouns agreeing with them either in the
singular or in the plural number; for we may, for instance, say of the House of Commons, 'They refused
to hear evidence against Castlereagh when Mr. Maddox accused him of having sold a seat'; or, 'It
refused to hear evidence.' But, we must be uniform in our use of the Pronoun in this respect. We must
not, in the same sentence, and applicable to the same noun, use the singular in one part of the sentence
and the plural in another part. . . . There are persons who pretend to make very nice distinctions as to
the cases when these nouns of multitude ought to take the singular, and when they ought to take the
plural, Pronoun; but these distinctions are too nice to be of any real use. The rule is this; that nouns of
multitude may take either the singular or the plural, Pronoun; but not both in the same sentence."
The Lighter Side of Collective Nouns
"[C]ollective-noun inventing is a game that continues today. The aim is to find a word which puns on the
meaning of the plural entity. Here are 21 of the best from my own collection:
An absence of waiters A shoulder of agony aunts
A rash of dermatologists A crop of barbers
A flutter of gamblers
A clutch of car mechanics A complex of psychiatrists
A vat of chancellors A fidget of choirboys
A bout of estimates A mass of priests
An annoyance of mobile phones A sulk of teenagers
A lot of auctioneers A whored of prostitutes
A bumble of beekeepers
A crash of software
A depression of weather forecasters
An exces's of apostrophes
A mucking fuddle of spoonerisms