What is the 'it'?

Should a group of people be referred to in the singular (“it”) or the plural (“they”)?

This is a thorny question – largely because it doesn’t really have a right or wrong answer. Rare is the lengthy judgment in which I don’t find some combination of, say, “the jury was” and “the jury were”, or “the majority was” and “the majority were”. None of these is wrong, but the inconsistency hurts.

The problem is rife in sports journalism, which is frequently about teams: “Melbourne was off its game” or “Melbourne were off their game”? Likewise politics: “the Labor Party was” or “the Labor Party were”? In music journalism, the idea of “the band” or “the group” frequently leads to confusion between “is” and “are”.

The concept of family is no different. The Atlantic, above, has managed to have a bet each way – in the space of two words. Impressive.