Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
AGREEMENT OF SUBJECTS AND VERBS 3: COLLECTIVE NOUNS AS SUBJECTS
Athletic teams and governments are usually treated as plural by the British, both for pronoun reference and subject-verb agreement: Manchester United are expecting great things from their new forward. The government are not yet willing to change their earlier stand. Americans generally use the singular for the verb, but the subsequent pronouns will often be plural: Boston is expecting great things from their [its] new pitcher. The administration is not yet willing to change its [their] earlier stand. But note too that many nouns can be either collective nouns or mass or count nouns: Drama is my favorite study. Dramas are my favorite reading. All these are Standard. Note also that verbs following titles can sometimes be affected by notional agreement: Eliot’s Four Quartets were [was] immensely popular in the 1950s. Bach’s Goldberg Variations is [are] a matchless achievement. See COLLECTIVE NOUNS; MASS NOUNS.
