A good rule of thumb for using collective nouns in American English is to err on the side of treating them as singular. In other words, unless there’s a compelling argument for making them plural—as in the examples in the preceding section, in which the emphasis is on the individual me...
Collective Nouns: Learn all about what is a collective noun, the definition of a collective noun and how collective nouns are used in sentences in this article.
Here we have listed some of the more commonly used collective nouns for humans, animals and objects. These collective nouns are commonly used under the category of people. 1. A class of students. 2. An army of soldiers. 3. A choir of singers. 4. A crew of sailors. 5. A band of m...
Collective nouns denote a group of people, objects, ideas, or animals as a single concept. Though the collective noun refers to more than one in a group, the noun itself is considered a singlething. However, they can be used as either singular of plural. It all depends on the sentence....
Q10: Can collective nouns be used for things other than animals and people? A10: Yes, collective nouns can also be used for groups of objects or concepts. For example, “a bouquet of flowers,”“a batch of cookies,” and “a fleet of ships” are all collective nouns for groups of thi...
Collective Nouns Collective Nouns – Created by 7ESL Collective Noun Definition A collective noun is a special type of noun used to name a group of people, animals, things, or ideas. These words generally appear singular in form but represent multiple individuals or objects. For example, “te...
Different Words For Different Things Some collective nouns can be used for just about any group of objects (bunch) but others are used for specific things. If we wanted to talk about a group of cows, we would use the collective nounherd. ...
When collective nouns began to be used to describe a group of animals at the end of the 15th century (following the grouping of people or objects), the same mechanics were followed for treating the noun as singular. Here are some examples of how animals can be grouped using collective nouns...
Related to collective: Collective nounscol·lec·tive (kə-lĕk′tĭv) adj. 1. Assembled into or viewed as a whole. 2. Of, relating to, characteristic of, or made by a number of people acting as a group: a collective decision. n. 1. An undertaking, such as a business operation...
Usage: Collective nouns are usually used with singular verbs:the family is on holiday;General Motors is mounting a big sales campaign. In British usage, however, plural verbs are sometimes employed in this context, esp when reference is being made to a collection of individual objects or people...