A Lagos-based couple caused a stir days ago. They kidnapped themselves with the hope of getting a N5m ransom. According to the police, the target was to make the husband’s relatives who live abroad pay the money, which they wanted to use to buy back a house they had lost in the Badagry area of Lagos.
Self-kidnap is a terrible crime but the act is not our major concern here. After all, we have seen a cleric kidnap himself to extort ransom from the congregation. We are thus more interested in the grammar of ‘couple,’ in terms of the verb to use with it – number-wise.
‘Couple,’ especially as used here, is a collective noun, which is a word used to represent a group of people, animals or things. It is thus in the class of committee, community, class and army, team, flock, group, choir etc. These are peculiar nouns because they can accept both the singular and plural verbs. However, it is the context that determines which. Consider the context-based usages here:The committee have not voted on who should be chairman among them.
To determine whether a singular verb or the plural is more appropriate with a collective noun, you have to consider whether or not it is operating as a group or individuals. In this sense, while it is understandable to say ‘The couple is in court’ , is it correct to say, ‘The couple is divorcing; so, they arrived at the court separately’?
This is odd on two grounds. Firstly, the action of divorcing is being taken by two different people. So, a plural verb is better. Secondly, there has to be consistency or agreement between the verb in the first part of the sentence and the subject of the second ‘they.’ The correct structure, therefore, is:Back to the topic statement, the couple are rather kidnapping themselves, or are planning to do so.
As a clause walking alone, ‘The couple is here’ is a cute sentence. But when it is followed by an expression like ‘They look calm,’ one may have to revisit the verb initially employed:So, in extended expressions or clauses, it is advisable you think twice before using singular verbs with collective nouns. Also, note that the collective noun + the singular verb is, according to Cambridge Dictionary, American English.
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