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5. Some singular nouns are often used with a plural verb: family, audience, committee, government, staff, team. We often think of these things as a number of people (they), not as one thing (it). So a plural verb is often used: The government (= they) want to reduce taxes. A singular verb (The government wants...) is also possible. A plural verb is normally used with the names of sport teams: Brazil are playing France in a football match tonight. A plural verb is always used with the police, cattle, people:Are the police well-paid?
6. Sometimes a plural noun is used with a singular verb. You do this when you talk about a sum of money, a period of time, a distance: Three years (=it) is a long time to be without a job. Six miles is not a long distance. Exercise 1. Divide the following nouns into countable and uncountable, and write them down in two lists. Use a good dictionary to check your answers. Affair, bath, bunch, cry, choice, crisis, decision, datum, downfall, enemy, education, formula, fox, health, information, knowledge, justice, law, life, mouth, market, message, mince, net, network, nail, oath, oak, onion, path, persuasion, piracy, right, relationship, progress, realization, security, salt, sandal, society, wreath, youth.
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