SC - MGMAT guide Question - Collective Noun usage

[lssandeep]

The police have significantly reduced violent crime and are pleased with themselves for doing so.

Is the use of "have" correct here? I read in the guide that collective nouns are singular unless there is something to indicate that it is being used in plural form?

[jlucero]

Great question. I'm going to refer to this post on the topic of collective nouns, which mentions things as trends more than hard and fast rules: http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/co ... nouns.aspx

The difference between police and, for example, army is that police is usually referring to a group of individuals, short for police officers as opposed to the police force.

The police force is going to look into the matter.
The police officers are surrounding the building.

If you wanted to refer to members of the army, you would use a different noun: soldiers.

The army is going to look into the matter.
The soldiers are surrounding the building.