What Are Collective Nouns? (with Examples)

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Top Tip

You can treat a collective noun as singular or plural depending on the sense of your sentence. For example:

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

Be aware that lots of your grammar-savvy readers will expect you to treat a collective noun as singular unless you have a good reason for treating it as plural.

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.

When treating a collective noun as singular, be consistent. For example:

• The group is happy with their performance.
(is = singular / their = plural)
• The group is happy with its performance.
(is = singular / its = singular)

Read more about treating collective nouns as singular or plural.

Note

Terms of Venery

Words used to describe a specific group of things (usually animals) are called terms of venery. They are also collective nouns. Examples:

• colony of ants
• hive of bees
• school of dolphins
• parliament of owls
• cloud of bats
• mob of kangaroos

Using the Wrong Collective Noun: A Useful Literary Technique

Some collective nouns are quite versatile. For example, you can say:

• a pack of cards.
• a pack of thieves
• a pack of wolves

The most versatile collective noun is group. It can be used with lots of things. However, most collective nouns cannot be shared. For example, you shouldn't say:

• a bouquet of wolves
• a swarm of lions
• a litter of ships

However, deliberately using the wrong collective noun could present a useful connotation. For example:

• a pack of ships
(This gives the idea of ships hunting likes wolves or thieves. It brings pirates to mind.)
• a forest of soldiers
(This gives the idea of thousands of soldiers stood shoulder to shoulder.)

Therefore, using the "wrong" collective noun can be a useful technique in creative writing.