[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by bookfiend

There's 'less than elegant' and then there's 'incorrect', as when Brown writes that "a voice spoke" or a single person "collapsed... in a heap."

Project Gutenberg has several examples of those usages.

(Google queries:
site:www.gutenberg.org "voice spoke"
site:www.gutenberg.org "collapsed in a heap")

I don't think there's anything wrong with them, - it's clear what they mean imho.