Singular Nouns Treated as Plural
Some singular nouns can be used with either a singular or plural verb. The commonest of these are the collective nouns which stand for a group or collection of people or things. These include words such as audience, committee, crew, family, government, group, team, and many others. So, both these sentences are correct:
Correct: The government is doing a good job.- Правительство хорошо работает.
Correct: The government are doing a good job.- Правительство хорошо работает.
But you shouldn’t switch from singular to plural. For example:
Incorrect: The government is doing a good job. They are responding to the situation effectively.
These sentences would need to be rewritten as:
Correct: The government is doing a good job. It is responding to the situation effectively.- Правительство хорошо работает. Оно эффективно реагирует на ситуацию.
There are one or two collective nouns that cannot be used with either a singular or a plural verb. The most notable are police and people: both of them must always be used with a plural verb:
Correct: People are beginning to ask questions.- Люди начинают задавать вопросы.
Incorrect: People is beginning to ask questions.
