NDA (I) 2018 General Ability Test · Question 22 of 150

Correct — D, 'No error.' The sentence is sound as it stands. 'Jury' is a collective noun, and when its members are being thought of one by one it takes a plural verb — which is exactly what 'their individual verdicts' signals — so 'the jury were called' and 'their individual verdicts were recorded' agree with each other.

• (a)request of the Defence Attorney, — This part is correct; 'at the request of' is the standard phrase, and the office is capitalised as a title.
• (b)the jury were called — The plural verb is right here, because the sentence goes on to speak of the jurors' individual verdicts, so the members are being counted separately.
• (c)and their individual verdicts were recorded. — 'Their' is the pronoun that matches the plural reading of 'jury', and it keeps the sentence consistent throughout.

A collective noun such as jury, team, committee or family takes a singular verb when the group acts as one body and a plural verb when its members act individually.

The words that settle the number here are 'individual verdicts'. A jury delivering one decision as a body would take 'was' — 'the jury was unanimous' — but a jury whose members each record a verdict is being treated as a set of people, so 'were' is right. Candidates who apply a flat rule that 'jury' is always singular mark segment (b) and lose the mark. The opening words 'At the' stand outside the four parts, so no option can be blamed for them.

• 'The committee is divided' and 'the committee are divided' are both possible, and the choice reports whether the group is being seen as one body or as its members.
• British usage takes the plural with collective nouns more readily than American usage, which prefers the singular.
• The pronoun must follow the same choice — the jury were called and they recorded their verdicts.

• Applying a blanket rule that a collective noun is always singular.
• Missing the clue in the word 'individual', which is doing all the work.

Asked as an error-spotting item — name the part of the sentence that carries the mistake, or mark 'No error.'

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Choose the verb that fits — The jury ______ divided in their opinions.

  • (a)is
  • (b)was
  • (c)were
  • (d)has been

  Answer(c) were — 'their opinions' shows the members are being counted one by one.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Choose the verb that fits — The committee ______ made up of nine members.

  • (a)are
  • (b)is
  • (c)were
  • (d)have

  Answer(b) is — here the committee is being seen as a single body.