Here's why:
* Collective nouns represent a group of individuals as a single unit. "Crowd" refers to a large group of people gathered together.
* They can be treated as singular or plural depending on context. For example:
* Singular: "The crowd was excited." (The entire group is acting as one unit)
* Plural: "The crowd were all wearing different hats." (Focusing on the individual members of the group)
Let me know if you'd like more examples or have any other questions about collective nouns!