Learn in detail: Collective Noun
Explanation # List of collective Nouns
Introduction
What is noun?
Definition of collective noun?
Examples of collective noun
How to decide the collective noun is
singular or plural
Noun is the fundamental part in
English grammar. This basic element everyone is learning from the childhood.
Noun is one of the parts of speech in English grammar. Everyone knows that what
is noun? And collective noun is the one of the type of nouns.
Noun means name of a person, animal,
thing or place.
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the noun you can click on the below link.
What is collective noun?
When a noun is the name of a number
(or collection) of people or things considered as one, such as army, bunch,
flock, school, team etc.
In simple words collective noun is a
collection of things taken as a whole.
Or
A noun even though a singular refers
to a group of things or animals is called as a collective noun.
Many of us don’t know what is collective noun of bees,
collective noun of sheep, and collective noun of fish? So let us learn some
more collective nouns
For example,
1. The word ‘team’ is a collective
noun, because it is the name given to a collection of players.
2. The word ‘gang’ is collective
noun, as it is name given to a collection of thieves.
Here are 40 examples of Collective noun:
1 a choir of singers
2 a pack of wolves
3 a swarm of bees/ants/flies {collective
noun of bees}
4 a quartet of singers
5 a bunch of
bananas/grapes/keys/flowers
6 a flight of stairs/ birds
7 a clump of trees/ a groove of
trees
8 a cluster of stars/ grapes
9 a herd of cows/deer/elephants
10 an anthology of stories/poems
11 a team of players
12 a row of books/houses/ trees
13 a jury of judges
14 a quiver of arrows
15 a shoal of fish {collective noun
for fish}
16 a fleet of ships
17 a flock of sheep/ goats {collective
noun for sheep}
18 a sheaf of grains
19 a litter of puppies
20 a crew of sailors
21 a band of musicians
22 a volley of bullets
23 a company of actors
24 a bundle of sticks
25 a range of mountains
26
a crowd of people
27 a troop of monkeys/lions
28 a committee of people
29 a staff of employee
30 a school of dolphins
31 a group of islands
32 a zoo of wild animals
33 a class of students
34 a wad of notes
35 a string of pearls
36 a catch/haul of fish
37 an album of photographs
38 a hive of bushes
39 an army of ants/ soldiers
40 a catalogue of prices
How to decide the collective noun is singular or plural.
Collective nouns use singular verbs
as in ‘the troop of monkeys is very naughty’. If the collective noun is made
plural, it uses a plural verb as in ‘the two groups of people were fighting. On
the other hand, if the members of the groups are not acting in harmony, it
sounds better to use a plural verb.
Now have a look on following two
sentences, then you can understand the use of plural verb.
1. The herd is grazing in the
meadow.
In the above sentence every cattle
in the herd is grazing means doing the same thing in harmony.
2. The cows started running as they
heard the roar of lion.
In the above sentence we have used
the word ‘cows’ plural word instead of singular word cow. It is because the
sentence says that the all cows collectively ran at a time.
These things are quiet confusing but
the regular practice may help you to understand the concept. And to stay away
from this confusion most of the writers use singular verb with collective
nouns.
Let’s see some sentences with
collective nouns. {The words in the bold letters are collective nouns.}
1. Our class consists of forty students.
2. There was a large crowd in the street.
3. She was carrying the bunch of bananas
4. The choir was singing the new auditorium.
5. The team is arriving now.
6. The jury listened to the judge’s instruction.
7. A flock of geese was flying overhead at that time.
8. A swarm of angry flies flew out.
9. Our team is better than theirs.
10.
A gang of thieves was seen by
him.
Hope this information may help you
to understand the concept of collective nouns. If you find this valuable please
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