Join In
Twitter
YouTube
Weekly Newsletter
Libraries
A-Z Grammatical Terms
A-Z Confused Words
FAQs by Writers
A-Z Awkward Plurals
Punctuation Lessons
Common Mistakes
(ordered by seriousness) ESL Vocabulary Lists Parts of Speech Lists A-Z Idioms and Proverbs Grammar Videos
(ordered by category) Tests and Games Top Tip Install a grammar checker
for your browser
(ordered by seriousness) ESL Vocabulary Lists Parts of Speech Lists A-Z Idioms and Proverbs Grammar Videos
(ordered by category) Tests and Games Top Tip Install a grammar checker
for your browser
Collective Nouns
What Are Collective Nouns?
Collective nouns are words used to represent groups of people, animals, or things. For example:- team ("Team" is a collective noun. It represents a group of people, e.g., footballers.)
- herd ("Herd" is a collective noun. It represents a group of animals, e.g., cows.)
- pack ("Pack" is a collective noun. It represents a group of things, e.g., cards.)
Table of Contents
- Examples of Collective Nouns
- Find the Collective Noun Test
- Common Collective Nouns Used for People
- Common Collective Nouns Used for Animals
- Common Collective Nouns Used for Things
- Video Lesson
- Versatile Collective Nouns
- Why Collective Nouns Are Important
- Printable Test

Examples of Collective Nouns
Here are some more examples of collective nouns:- flock (of birds)
- crowd (of people)
- choir (of singers)
- group (of people, of animals)
- committee (of directors, of lawyers, of managers)
- team (of horses, of players)
Find the Collective Noun Test
It's your go! Select the collective noun.Click on the Two Collective Nouns
(Interactive Game)
More Examples of Collective Nouns
There are lots of collective nouns. Below are some examples of the most common ones for people, animals, and things.Common Collective Nouns Used for People
Here are some examples of common collective nouns used for people:- A band of musicians
- A board of directors
- A choir of singers
- A class of students
- A crowd of people
- A gang of thieves
- A pack of thieves
- A panel of experts
- A team of players
- A troupe of dancers
Common Collective Nouns Used for Animals
Here are some examples of common collective nouns used for animals:- An army of ants
- A flock of birds
- A flock of sheep
- A herd of deer
- A hive of bees
- A litter of puppies
- A murder of crows
- A pack of hounds
- A pack of wolves
- A school of fish
- A swarm of locusts
- A team of horses
- A pride of lions
Common Collective Nouns Used for Things
Here are some examples of common collective nouns used for things:- A bouquet of flowers
- A bunch of flowers
- A fleet of ships
- A forest of trees
- A galaxy of stars
- A pack of cards
- A pack of lies
- A pair of shoes
- A range of mountains
- A wad of notes
Are you a visual learner? Do you prefer video to text? Here is a list of all our grammar videos.
Versatile Collective Nouns
Some collective nouns are quite versatile.- a pack of thieves
- a pack of wolves
- a pack of cards
- a pack of lies
- The shoal was moving north.
- The shoal were darting in all directions.
- The audience is happy.
- The audience are all wearing comedy wigs.
- There is always an incredible crowd that follows me. In Rome, even the men kiss me. (Boxer Muhammad Ali)
- I have played some of my best tennis away from home, but it can be tough when the crowd are spitting on you. (Australian tennis player Lleyton Hewitt) (In the first sentence, "crowd" is singular. In the second, it's plural. Lleyton Hewitt would have instinctively chosen "crowd are" over "crowd is" because not all the individuals in the crowd would have been spitting at him, compelling him to think of the crowd as lots of individuals.)
- The members of the audience are happy.
- The members of the audience are all wearing comedy wigs.
- The group is happy with their performance.
[not technically wrong but a bit scruffy]
(is = singular / their = plural)
- The group is happy with its performance.
[much tidier]
(is = singular / its = singular)
- a bouquet of wolves
- a swarm of lions
- a litter of ships
- a pack of ships (This gives the idea of ships hunting like wolves or thieves. It brings pirates to mind.)
- a forest of soldiers (This gives the idea of thousands of stationary soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder.)
- A flock of men is more easily driven than a single one. (Economist Richard Whately)
- Treat a collective noun as singular unless the context highlights the individuals in the group.
- The choir is out of tune.
- The choir were fainting due to the heat.
- If you're uncomfortable treating a collective noun as singular or plural, put a term like "members of" in front so it reads smoothly as a plural.
- The members of the choir were fainting due to the heat.
- Once you've decided whether your collective noun is singular or plural, be consistent throughout your sentence.
- The group is changing its strategy.
- The group are changing their shirts.
- Using the "wrong" collective noun could be a useful creative-writing technique.
- a swarm of students
Help Us Improve Grammar Monster
- Do you disagree with something on this page?
- Did you spot a typo?
Find Us Quicker!
- When using a search engine (e.g., Google, Bing), you will find Grammar Monster quicker if you add #gm to your search term.