NOTES TO RULE XI.
NOTE I.—A collective noun conveying the idea of unity, requires a pronoun in the third person, singular, neuter; as, "When a legislative body makes laws, it acts for itself only; but when it makes grants or contracts, it acts as a party."—Webster's Essays, p. 40. "A civilized people has no right to violate its solemn obligations, because the other party is uncivilized."—Wayland's Moral Science, p. 314.
NOTE II.—When a collective noun is followed by two or more words which must each in some sense agree with it, uniformity of number is commonly preferable to diversity, and especially to such a mixture as puts the singular both before and after the plural; as, "That ingenious nation who have done so much honour to modern literature, possesses, in an eminent degree, the talent of narration."—Blair's Rhet., p. 364. Better: "which has done."