In referring to two people, couple, like many collective nouns, may take either a singular or a plural verb. Most commonly, it is construed as a plural: The couple were traveling to Texas.
Shouldn’t it be “many other collective nouns” instead of “many collective nouns”?
Thanks.
Either one is fine in my opinion.
You are talking about the similarities between “couple” and “many collective nouns”, so I also think either way is fine.
If you were talking about dissimilarities, using perhaps using “unlike”instead of “like”, I would tend to include “other”, though it’s still not absolutely necessary.
BTW, you’re referring to couple as a word and not a concept, so it should be italicized or within quotes.
I agree with NN and Arinker. However, it all depends on whether we see the couple as a single unit (as a whole) or as seperate inidividuals. Mind you, they still belong together. So, allow me to give you some other examples:
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra was playing Mozart. (= as a whole playing notes at the right pitch that agree with others being played = in harmony)
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra were tuning their instruments. (= as seperate musicians, making a mixture of sounds that may or may not be experienced as very irritating or even painful to one’s ears = cacophony).
Although there’s little difference in meaning, strict grammarians and examiners may insist on using the correct verb form in formal English.