people, police, cattle, poultry (家禽), militia (民兵) 等通常都用作复数.
Cattle are grazing on the pasture.
The police are looking for him.
有些集体名词有时作单数看待, 有时作复数看待, 主要根据意思来决定.
His family isn’t very large.
His family are all music lovers.
The committee meets twice a month.
The committee are divided in opinion.
The audience was enormous.
The audience were greatly moved at the words.
有些名词单复数同形, 可根据意思决定谓语动词的数:
This new series is beginning next month.
These new series are beginning next month.
This species is now extinct.
These species are now extinct.
表示时间, 重量, 长度, 价值等的名词, 尽管仍是复数形式, 如果作整体看待, 动词也可用单数形式 (当然用复数动词也是可以的):
Three weeks was allowed for making the necessary preparations.
One hundred li was covered in a single night.
书名, 国家名用单数:
Tales from Shakespeare is a book by Charles Lamb.
学科名, 如mathematics, economics用单数.
many a 或more than one 所修饰的词作主语时, 谓语动词多用单数形式:
Many a person has had that kind of experience.
More than one person has involved in the case.
a number of 后接复数, the number of后接单数: