Collective Nouns Examples

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Collective Nouns - Glossary of Terms


Collective Nouns

A collective noun is the word used to represent a group of people or things.

Examples:

flock, crowd, committee, choir, group, team 

Interactive example:
 
The company comprises the director, his cat and a secretary. [show me the collective noun]
 

There is often to confusion over whether to use a singular or plural verb after a collective noun.  The answer is: you can use either depending on the sense of your sentence.

The audience is happy.
 The audience are all wearing comedy wigs.

To avoid confusion, add a word to denote the members of the group:

The members of the audience are happy.
 The members of the audience are all wearing comedy wigs.

Associated pages:
 
What are nouns?
The different types of nouns
Glossary of grammatical terms
 
  

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