And in Jiangxi province, five died from buildings collapsing, two in mudslides and one by a lightning strike, it said. In July last year a single mudslide triggered by days of heavy rain killed at least 14 people in two villages in the southwestern province of Yunnan.
Synonyms of group: crowd, company, party, band, troop | Collins English Thesaurus
In this example, 'target population' is functioning as the noun to the verb 'was'. What form of a noun-target population is a group, in my opinion [therefore a Mass or Collective noun].When referred to as a group, a Collective noun will typically take a singular verb.ut in a collective sense, it may take either a singular or a plural verb form {the ruling majority is unlikely to share power} {the majority are nonmembers}. A singular verb emphasizes the group; a plural verb emphasizes the individual members. Edits: Almost all of the text.