Editing English plurals (section)

==== Singulars with collective meaning treated as plural ====
Words such as ''army'', ''company'', ''crowd'', ''family'', ''fleet'', ''government'', ''majority'', ''mess'', ''number'', ''pack'', ''party'' and ''team'' may refer either to a single entity or the members of the set composing it. If the latter meaning is intended, the word (though singular in form) may be treated as if it were a plural, in that it may take a plural verb and be replaced with a plural pronoun: (in British English) ''the government '''are''' considering '''their''' position'' (alternatively ''the government is considering its position''). See [[synesis]].

Thus, as [[H. W. Fowler]] describes, in [[British English]] they are "treated as singular or plural at discretion"; Fowler notes that occasionally a "delicate distinction" is made possible by discretionary plurals: "''The Cabinet'' is ''divided'' is better, because in the order of thought a whole must precede division; and ''The Cabinet'' are ''agreed'' is better, because it takes two or more to agree."<ref>Fowler, H. W., ''[[Fowler's Modern English Usage|A Dictionary of Modern English Usage]]'', 2nd ed., revised by [[Ernest Gowers|Sir Ernest Gowers]] (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1965), 403.</ref>