I haven’t been able to dig up enough research but from what little I found, I culled the following. Bear in mind that this is an etic point of view.
With collective nouns, as with any parts of speech, it is the intent and meaning which the speaker wishes to convey that determines usage in a cultural context. E.g., in British English, ‘committee’ is traditionally plural; in American English, singular.
I may be wrong.
Spanish collective nouns are typically singular, much like in English.
Where there seems to be some inconsistency is when the speaker meant to refer to the members in a collective noun individually, (El reba?o de hembras deben integrarse en el de los machos), it takes a plural verb;
when the collective noun is taken in its entirety, it takes a singular verb.
Logic dictates that there are instances where referring to the individuals in the group would not make much common sense; e.g.” Un reba?o de nubes negras pasea por el cielo.”
In this case the verb is singular.
Where it is difficult (for me) is when the collective noun refers to people (la mitad de los cibernautas ser?n …), animate, or to inanimate objects associated with people (La mitad de las empresas … realizar? …). My inclination here is to use the plural IF I mean each of the individuals in the group; otherwise, singular.
In the last example,”Una docena de chicos se alimenta en el basura.”, may I argue thus: that ‘una docena’ is singular in meaning; therefore it takes a singluar verb. Were it ‘Dos docenas’ it is plural.
My conclusion on this is as follows; and I’ll be way out on a limb because I am speaking as an outsider of the Spanish culture.
Typically, collective nouns in Spanish are singular.
Common sense logic and the intended meaning dictate whether the collective noun takes a singular or a plural verb. Both singular and plural are correct, and are correct ONLY when it conveys truly what the speaker wants to say.
Then maybe, I’m way over my head.
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