Collective Noun – Concept and Its Uses

Collective Nouns  

Collective nouns refer to a group of people, animals or things. 

They appear to be singular but denote a group of people, animals or things. 

For example: team, herd, class, bunch 

Types of collective nouns: 

Collective nouns can be used to refer to: 

People 

Collective nouns refer to a group of people. 

For example: team, crew, class, gang, choir 

Animals 

Group of animals are indicated using collective nouns. 

For example: a pride of lions, a herd of cattle, a school of fish  

Things 

Collective nouns are also used to refer to group of things. 

For example: pile, bunch, stack 

Singular or plural 

Collective nouns are usually written in singular form. They are considered as a single unit. They use singular verbs. 

For example: 

The herd is grazing in the field. 

When, the members of the group are considered as different individuals, collective nouns will be used in plural form.  

For example: 

The herd are running in different directions after seeing the wolf. 

Here, importance is given to each sheep in the herd.