Collective noun such as family

by JH Tue Oct 14, 2008 6:49 am

Could you please explain correct singluar/plural usage of "family"?

I understand family is singular when referring to the whole group and plural when referring to the members of the family but I am still not 100% sure. I am not sure when

E.g. My family is coming. They are coming tomorrow. <- Both are still talking about the same subject but it feels awkward to use "it is coming tomorrow instead."

My family is sleeping. <- aren't the members of the family sleeping? not the group?

Thanks,

*There are no source for this question since I am just trying to understand the logic and there are no question involved from other sources.

by **JonathanSchneider** Thu Oct 30, 2008 2:16 am

This really ought to be posted to General Verbal instead of GMAT Prep Verbal.

However, the word family, like almost every other collective noun, is singular. Your confusion regarding "they are coming..." should be resolved this way: we CANNOT use "they" to refer to "family," because "they" is plural" and "family" is singular. While "it" might sound strange, technically, that would be correct; more likely, however, you would see some sort of synonym or rephrasing were a repetition of "family" necessary in such a sentence.