Collective Nouns
Sensible Notion
This was awkward, to put it kindly:
"Both former educators, the … couple plans to see the ballet and symphony while in Florida."
Rigidity was at work; a "couple" just has to be singular, right?
No. "Couple," like "family" and some other collective nouns, can go either way, and "couple" itself is usually best as a plural. Just as some superficially plural phrases sometimes have to be treated as singular,* so collective nouns should be treated as plural when that makes the most sense.
The principle grammarians invoke is "notional agreement" - if the idea is plural, make the verb plural. Deciding about that can require thought, though, not just a knee jerk. Worse yet, the difference in meaning is sometimes so minute that either singular or plural works.
In our example, even if the sentence began in the middle, without "both" and "educators" to make the error so conspicuous, "the couple plan" would be preferable. We're talking about two people, not some unit. Jane plans and Dick plans and the couple plan.
But if some disaster struck and they were really angry about it, we might say - after some thought - "the couple has filed a suit against the theater."
*See "They each" and "Tons was" in the Archives
