Name of the organisation - Singular or Plural

The name of an organisation, though plural in form, usually takes a singular verb:

Examples:
The United Nations was formed in 1945.
Avalon Textiles is located on King Street.

The names of some organisations, however, may take singular or plural verbs. When the name refers to the organisation as a unit, it takes a singular verb. When the name refers to the members of the organisation, it takes a plural verb.

Examples:
The New YorkYankees has won the World Series twentytwo times.
(The New YorkYankees has won as a unit.)
The New YorkYankees are signing autographs.
(The players are signing autographs.)

Note: Many nouns ending in -ics, such as acoustics, athletics, ethics, politics, statistics, and tactics, may be singular or plural.

Examples:
Statistics is a collection of mathematical data.
The statistics are misleading.

If you do not know whether a noun that is plural in form is ingular or plural in meaning, refer to a dictionary.

Subjects preceded by ‘every’ or ‘many a’ take singular verbs:

Examples:
Every sophomore and junior is participating.
Many a person supports the cause.

Task: Selecting the Correct Verb - For each of the following sentences, choose the correct verb form in parentheses.

1. The girl guides (is, are) a scouting organisation that began inGreat Britain.
2. (Does, Do) every boy and girl in the city schools vote in the student council elections?
3. Two teaspoonfuls of cornstarch combined with a small amount of cold water (makes, make) an ideal thickener for many sauces.
4. One indication of African Americans’ influence on our culture (is, are) the use of many black originated slang expressions by people of other ethnic backgrounds.
5. “Seventeen Syllables” (recounts, recount) the story of a Japanese American family.
6. This (doesn’t, don’t) make sense to me.
7. Microelectronics, the area of electronics dealing with the design and application of microcircuits, (has, have) made possible many of the tremendous advances in computers and robotics in recent years.
8. There (is, are) many a slip between the cup and the lip, as my grandpa says.
9. When she is doing needlepoint, Aunt Chandra’s scissors always (hang, hangs) around her neck on a red ribbon.
10. The majority of high school juniors (think, thinks) that computer literacy is important.