Tham khảo tài liệu 'oxford guide to english grammar part 30', ngoại ngữ, ngữ pháp tiếng anh phục vụ nhu cầu học tập, nghiên cứu và làm việc hiệu quả | PAGE 197 157 Number in the subject and object 5 The names of institutions companies and teams are also group nouns . Parliament the UnitedNations The Post Office the BBC Selfridge s Rank Xerox Manchester United England the England team . Safeway sells sellorganic vegetables. Brazil is are expected to win. NOTE The United States usually takes a singular verb. The United States has reacted angrily. 6 These nouns have a plural meaning and take a plural verb police people livestock farm animals cattle cows poultry hens . The police are questioning a man. Some cattle have got out into the road. NOTE a For details about people 296 1 Note b. b When poultry means meat it is uncountable. Poultry has gone up in price. 157 Number in the subject and object There is sometimes a problem about number with an object. Compare these sentences. The schools have a careers adviser. A number of schools share the same adviser. The schools have careers advisers. Each school has one or more advisers. When a number of people each have one thing then the object is usually plural. We put on our coats. They all nodded their heads in agreement. But we use the singular after a subject with each or every. Each town has its own mayor. 19 The articles a an and the 158 Summary ACCIDENTS CAN HAPPEN The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents held an exhibition at Harrogate in the north ofEngland. Some shelves were put up to display the exhibits. During the exhibition the shelves fell down injuring a visitor. We use a an only with a singular noun but we can use the with any noun. We also use some as a plural equivalent of a an. Some shelves were put up. We can also sometimes use a noun on its own without an article. Accidents can happen. The form of the articles 159 We use a before a consonant sound and an before a vowel sound. a visitor an exhibition The basic use of the articles 160 A an is the indefinite article and the is the definite article. We use the when it is clear which one we .
