Be with Collective Nouns and Special Plurals — Exercises
Practice verb agreement with 'be' after tricky nouns: always-plural nouns like trousers and jeans, collective nouns like police and staff, singular uncountables like news, and indefinite pronouns like everyone and nobody.
-
There ___ a lot of milk in the fridge, so we don't need any.
Show answer
is
'Milk' is uncountable, so use 'There is' — even with 'a lot of'.
-
There ___ too many people waiting in the queue.
Show answer
are
'People' is plural, so use 'There are'.
-
The police ___ still looking for the two missing tourists.
Show answer
are
'The police' always takes a plural verb in English — 'the police are'.
-
Everyone in our class ___ nervous before the final exam.
Show answer
is
'Everyone' is grammatically singular, so it takes 'is'.
-
These trousers ___ too long — I'll need to take them up.
Show answer
are
'Trousers' is always plural in English, so it takes 'are'.
-
The news ___ on television at nine o'clock every night.
Show answer
is
'News' looks plural but is an uncountable singular noun — 'the news is'.
-
When I got home last night, nobody ___ there.
Show answer
was
'Nobody' is grammatically singular, so it takes 'was'.
-
The instructions on this form ___ really hard to follow.
Show answer
are
'Instructions' is plural, so it takes 'are'.
-
The staff at this hotel ___ extremely helpful and polite.
Show answer
are
'Staff' refers to a group of people and takes a plural verb — 'the staff are'.
-
There ___ very little space in this tiny office.
Show answer
is
'Space' is uncountable — use 'There is'.
-
Everybody in the building ___ a key to the main entrance.
Show answer
has
'Everybody' is grammatically singular, so it takes 'has'.
-
Where ___ you last weekend? I tried to call you several times.
Show answer
were
Use 'were' with 'you' in the past — 'Where were you?'
Be with Collective Nouns and Special Plurals
Deciding between 'is' and 'are' — and between 'was' and 'were' in the past — is straightforward with regular nouns, but a specific set of English nouns has grammatical number that doesn't match its appearance, and this mismatch is a recurring source of agreement errors even for otherwise accurate B1–B2 writers. Four patterns cover almost every case that comes up in everyday English.
Always Plural: trousers, jeans, instructions
A handful of nouns referring to two-part or composite objects are always grammatically plural, even when referring to a single item.
My jeans are wet.
The instructions on this form are hard to follow.
Collective Nouns: police, staff
Nouns referring to a group of people as a set of individuals take a plural verb in British English, even though the word itself looks singular.
The staff at this hotel are extremely helpful.
Looks Plural, Is Singular: news
Indefinite Pronouns Are Always Singular
'Everyone', 'everybody', 'someone', and 'nobody' are grammatically singular, however many people they refer to in meaning.
Nobody was there when I got home.
Common Mistakes
✗ The police is still looking for them. → ✓ The police are still looking for them.
✗ The news are on at nine. → ✓ The news is on at nine.
✗ Everyone in our class are nervous. → ✓ Everyone in our class is nervous.
Last updated: · Satori Editorial