Group nouns

Very often I hear something like:

"I couldn't find what I was looking for so a staff helped me."

'a staff' is incorrect because "staff" is a group noun. It means ALL the people who work somewhere.

"Staff at the Imperial Hotel are very professional."

If you want to count them one by one, please use a counting word. Almost always we use 'member'.

"I couldn't find what I was looking for so a staff member helped me."

Or you can use other nouns that are the names of the things in a group:

staff = president, vice president, department manager, section manager, secretary, office workers, cleaners -- 10 staff members

furniture = shelf/shelves, desks, chairs -- 10 pieces of furniture

money = notes, coins

work = jobs, projects, tasks

homework = projects, essays, reports


It is okay to use plural for the things in the group, so "S" is okay. But please don't use plural for the group nouns: furnitures