Audience-singular or plural noun

Question

Hi,I just read the following sentence in an IEEE journal:A report is a communication needed and directed by an audience.I am bit confused whether "audience" is a singular or plural noun.I think it is used both ways. Would you mind sharing where it becomes plural and why?Thanks!

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

an audience is singular, as are all nouns preceded by a or an.

A plural use of audience is:

Audiences all over the country can now enjoy the work of this rising star of country music.

CJ

J Lewis · Answer

A lot of collective nouns can be singular or plural. We consider them as plural when we are thinking of a group of people who can think and act independently. We use the singular when we consider it as a single unit. "The government (various ministers with different opinions) are considering the problem"; "The government has fallen" (it stands or falls together).
As for audience I would tend to use it more in the singular than in the plural. In the example, A report is a communication needed and directed by an audience. "an audience" either exists or doesn't exist. It can't exist one person at a time, so we consider it as a single unit.
A plural use could be "The audience were not happy with the performance", meaning the individuals making up the audience were not happy. But even here I think the singular sounds OK.

Maple · Answer

Copy from Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary:

Noun

1

audience (GROUP OF PEOPLE) group noun [ C]
the group of people gathered in one place to watch or listen to a play, film, someone speaking, etc., or the (number of) people watching or listening to a particular television or radio programme, or reading a particular book

She lectures to audiences all over the world.
The secret to public speaking is to get the audience on your side.
The audience was/were clearly delighted with the performance.
The magic show had a lot of audience participation, with people shouting things to the performers and going up on stage.
The television company has lost a large part of its audience (= the group of people who watch its programmes) since it changed its programming.
Her latest book should appeal to a large audience (= many people will want to read it).

2

audience (FORMAL MEETING) noun [ C]

a formal meeting that you have with an important person
She had a private audience with the king.

Anonymous · Answer

recently i hv hear a celebrity in a show talkin abt "audien"? wts is it-- singukar f audience?????/ i hvnt heard.............kidnly xplain......

BarbaraPA · Answer

Anonymousrecently i hv hear a celebrity in a show talkin abt "audien"? wts is it-- singukar f audience??/ i hvnt heard..kidnly xplain..

I have absolutely NO idea what you are trying to write here. Please ask your question using standard English.

Anonymous · Answer

Hiya,

just studied this at uni. U can say both. With words like this the US mostly uses singular whereas the US uses plural

Audience-singular or plural noun

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