However, even though collective nouns refer to multiple individuals, they still usually function as singular nouns in a sentence. Here is a list of the more common collective nouns. Collective nouns are nouns that refer to a collection or group of multiple people, animals, or things. However, if you are talking about more than one committee, then you use the plural form.įor example - ' Many committees have been formed over the years.'Ī determiner in front of a singular collective noun is always singular: this committee, never these committee (but of course when the collective noun is pluralized, it takes a plural determiner: these committees ). The fast search works for all the columns so you can type birds or crows or troupe or whatever you want. When the focus is on the individual parts of the group, British English sometimes uses a plural verb and plural pronouns.įor example - 'The committee have been arguing all morning.' This is the same as saying ' The people in the committe have been. Below is a 3 column fast-sorting table of 100's of collective nouns with a related noun and link to the main category. When a group is considered as a single unit, the collective noun is used with a singular verb and singular pronoun.įor example - The committee has reached its decision. All these examples are seen as one unit, like a swarm of sheep, we don’t count the number of sheep, but we see as a. Examples: a bunch of bananas, a litter of puppies, a flock of sheep, and others. Some collective nouns can stand alone, such as 'Britain has an army', but if the collective noun 'army' is used to mean something other than an organized military force, you can say things like 'an army of women' or 'an army of ants', and even 'an army of one'. Collective Noun is a name used for a group of people, animals or objects that we group and we refer to as a whole unit that represents its parts. We often say a group of things, such as a bunch of flowers, or a host of golden daffodils. Groups of things - bunch, bundle, clump, pair, set, stack The use of 'of' Groups of animals - colony, flock, herd, pack, pod, school, swarm Groups of people - army, audience, band, choir, class, committee, crew, family, gang, jury, orchestra, police, staff, team, trio The Collective Nouns An aarmory of aardvarks (-submitted by ojo-) An abandonment of orphans (-suggested by Toni Stern, via Gerald Jerry Rounds, bloodflame. His Science class (take, takes) the AP exam on Friday. The correct verb for this sentence is is, because the subject, mob, is a singular collective noun. The mob of Black Friday shoppers (is, are) anxiously waiting for the store to open. Collective nouns are sometimes confused with mass nouns. Collective nouns can be made plural and use plural verbs. A collective noun is a noun that can be singular in form whilst referring to a