[Vocabulary] audience/audiences

[tipu s]

Hi Teachers,

"The audience is/are enjoying the show"
Is it correct to say?
"The audiences are enjoying the show"
If audience is plural, what is the difference between 'audience' and 'audiences'?

 

[Rover_KE]

One audience is enjoying one show.

Two audiences are enjoying two shows or two performances of the same show.

Rover

 

[bhaisahab]

One audience is enjoying one show.

Two audiences are enjoying two shows or two performances of the same show.

Rover

"The audience are enjoying the show" seems OK to me.

 

[nyota]

Quirk et.al. on collective nouns (A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language)

(...) The verb may be in the plural after a singular noun, though far less commonly in AmE than BrE (cf 10.36):
The committee has met and it has have met and they have rejected the proposal.

The difference reflects a difference in point of view: the singular stresses the nonpersonal collectivity of the group, and the plural stresses the personal individuality within the group. Here are examples of collective nouns:

army board class commission corporation crew federation gang group jury opposition staff association cast club community council crowd faculty(AmE) firm generation herd majority Party team audience clan college company couple department family flock government institute minority population university

 

[tipu s]

"The audience are enjoying the show" seems OK to me.

If 'are' can be used with the both, what is difference between 'audience' and 'audiences'?

 

[5jj]

If 'are' can be used with the both, what is difference between 'audience' and 'audiences'?

One audience is/are enjoying ...

Two audiences are enjoying ...

 

[tipu s]

One audience is/are enjoying ...

Two audiences are enjoying ...

But why "one audience are"??

 

[bhaisahab]

But why "one audience are"??

An audience can be seen as a unit or as a collection of individuals. In BrE it is common to use the plural verb with collective nouns of this type. nyota has already posted an explanation, from A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, in post #4.