Collective nouns

Collective nouns are nouns which stand for a group or collection of people or things. They include words such as audience, committee, police, crew, family, government, group, and team.

Most collective nouns can be singular or plural. However, there are a few collective nouns that are used only in the plural form, the most common of which are “police” and “people”.

Wrong: The police is arriving in five minutes.
Right: The police are arriving in five minutes.

Wrong: People is generally good-hearted.
Right: People are generally good-hearted.