Collective Noun
A collective noun is the name of a group of similar things or persons, taken as a whole.
Collective Noun Examples
My grandfather has retired from the army last year. Now he lives in the village. Last Friday we went to visit him. We had a nice time there. We were very happy to see a flock of sheep grazing in the field. There is a big pond in my grandfather's house. There is a shoal of fish there. We caught fish. We also play cricket in the evening. Our team won the match.
In the above passage the words army, flock, shoal, and team are collective nouns because they do not indicate any particular person or thing rather they consist of groups of similar things or persons.
Note: Collective noun is treated as a singular noun. If a collective noun is the subject of a sentence, it takes a singular verb.
Examples: The crowd has gathered under a banyan tree. Common nouns are sometimes used as collective nouns:
Note: Collective noun is treated as a singular noun. If a collective noun is the subject of a sentence, it takes a singular verb.
Examples: The crowd has gathered under a banyan tree. Common nouns are sometimes used as collective nouns:
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Common noun
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Collective noun
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Sheep (stands for any sheep) Player (stands for any player) Key (stands for any key) Robbers (stands for any robber)
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flock (stands for ail the sheep, team (stands for all the players) bunch (stands for all the keys) gang (stands for all the robbers)
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The noun of multitudes: A distinction is made between a collective noun and a noun of multitude.
(a) A collective noun denotes one individual of the group, and hence the verb is singular.
(b) A noun of multitude denotes the individuals of the group, and hence the verb is plural. The jury (the man on the jury) were divided in their opinion.