Collective nouns refer to groups of people, animals, or things.
What are collective nouns? Stop right there! Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First, let’s review what nouns are. Nouns are one of the eight parts of speech. They name people, places, things, or ideas. Okay, now that you remember what nouns are, let’s get back to the main question!
audience, band, class, club, crowd, collection, committee
family, flock, group, herd, team
Here are some example sentences.
Our class went to the museum today.
The audience clapped wildly at the end of the play.
I love my stamp collection!
A class is made up of a group of students acting as one whole.
An audience is made up of a group of people acting as one whole.
A collection is made up of a group of things (in this case, stamps) acting as one whole. Do you sense a pattern here? I sure do.
Singular or Plural?
Singular means one. Plural means more than one. What do you think? Are these guys singular or plural? (It’s important to know this so that you can have the proper subject verb agreement.)
I’ll give you a hint. They name many things that come together to act as one group.
If you said singular, you’re right!
If you said plural, you’re also right!
What? It’s crazy but true.
These nouns can be singular or plural depending on the context of the sentence.
They’re usually singular.
They are usually singular because they focus on the individual elements acting together as one unit. In these cases, use a singular verb to match the singular subject.
The team is winning! (Team is seen as one unit.)
The herd is following the shepherd. (Herd is seen as one unit.)
They can also be plural. When the sentence is highlighting the individuals among the group, the noun is plural. In these cases, use a plural verb to match the plural subject.
The team are cooperating well tonight. (Team is seen as many individuals.)
The herd are running in all different directions! (Herd is seen as many individuals.)
AGH / Jan 2020