集合名词audience的用法要点

1. 表示“听众”、“观众”，是集合名词，用作主语时，其谓语可用单数(视为整体时)或复数(视为个体时)。如：

The audience is [are]listening attentively. 听众都在聚精会神地听着。

The audience was [were] enjoying every minute of the performance. 观众对演出非常欣赏。

有时由于语义的需要，分别用单数或复数更合适。如：

The audience was enormous. 观众人很多。(from www.nmet168.com)

The audience are requested to be in their seats by 8:00. 观众要在八点前都入座。

2. 形容听(观)众人数之多或少，通常用 large, small, crowded, thin等形容词(但是不能用 many)修饰audience。如：

There was a large audience of young people at the pop concert. 流行音乐演奏会上有大量青年听众。

Her lecture had a crowded audience. 她的演讲挤满了听众。

The speaker had a small (thin) but attentive audience. 这位演讲者的听众不多(很少)，但很专心。

要在那么多观众面前唱歌她感到很紧张。

正：She felt nervous at having to sing before so large an audience [such a large audience].

误：She felt nervous at having to sing before so many audience.

3. audience 虽为集合名词，但有时可用复数形式。如：

The audiences were enormous. 听众特别多。

He addressed audiences all over the country. 他向全国各地的听众作地演讲。

4. audience 有时可表示“读者”。如：

That book has a large audience. 那本书有广大的读者。