Treat collective nouns as singular unless the meaning is clearly plural - Make pronouns and antecedents agree - Grammar

Rules for writers, Tenth edition - Diana Hacker, Nancy Sommers 2021

Treat collective nouns as singular unless the meaning is clearly plural
Make pronouns and antecedents agree
Grammar

Collective nouns such as jury, committee, audience, crowd, class, troop, family, team, and couple name a group. Ordinarily the group functions as a unit, so the noun should be treated as singular; if the members of the group function as individuals, however, the noun should be treated as plural. (See also 21f.)

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When treating a collective noun as plural, many writers prefer to add a clearly plural antecedent such as members to the sentence: The members of the committee put their signatures on the document.

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