Collective nouns are names for a collection or a number of people or things. We can use singular or plural verbs with many collective nouns, Pamela, and government is one of these. But when the collective noun refers to the entire panel of jurors, it is a jury. The audience is or are? Collective Noun Examples. Copyright ©2021 CollectiveNounsList.com All Rights Reserved. Examples: a bunch of bananas, a litter of puppies, a flock of sheep, and others.. All these examples are seen as one unit, like a swarm of sheep, we don’t count the number of sheep, but we see as a whole that is a flock of sheep. For good measure, I surveyed to of the editors I work with. ", A Pearson product. Well, these aren't things that editors fuss too much over. If you want to emphasize that the team is made up of people, you can say "they" If you want to emphasize it as a single unit, you can use "it. Please send an email to suggest a collective noun. You cannot have a committee, team, or family of one; you need at least two people to compose the unit. There are times when we use collective nouns that would normally require a singular verb, but because of the context in which they are used, a plural verb fits better. The two companies havebeen negotiating for over a week. And the way you had written it sounds more natural to me than my alternative with "were.". Note that many of these terms are humorous and appear only in word lists. Reference Menu. If the collective noun is in the singular i.e. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Remember that nouns are words naming people, animals, places, and things. Committee is a collective noun, just like the nouns jury, flock, herd, class, choir, team, family, and other words that refer to a single unit consisting of more than one person or thing. The team is or are? That thing, however, is made up of more than one person. Collective nouns can be either singular or plural, depending on how they’re intended. You asked which of the following two sentences is right: "This team work usually work on Fridays" and "These team work usually work on Fridays.". team troupe Use the right verbs and pronouns with collective nouns. C has a "Charm of Hummingbirds". Collective nouns are words for single things that are made up of more than one person, animal, place, thing, or idea. For the complete list of 900+ collective nouns, please visit our homepage at collectivenounslist.com. You'll probably with common terms such as "crowd" or "team" but what group could "wheeze" possible refer to? A collective noun is treated as plural when the group it … Use the Next Question button to skip a question. There are a couple problems with both forms. Can't find what you're looking for? I have a question to that topic, too. For instance, TEAM and SQUAD are applicable not only to cricketers but also to footballers, hockey players or any group of players in any sport. Select a letter to view all the collective nouns that start with that letter. The collective noun is squad. One of my sisters recently got into a debate with co-workers over a grammar issue and e-mailed me to ask about it. Check out these examples using Team as a collective noun. They may also apply to say, a police force or a fire force. That thing, however, is made up of more than one person. This says that the members of the team are celebrating together but each one in their own individual way. A collective noun refers to a type of noun that encompasses “a whole group as a single entity” as well as the members of that group. The committee was formed in 2012. Tags: GRAMMAR, PRONOUN ANTECEDENT AGREEMENT. Thanks! This page lists the collective nouns used for groups of people. 'These team work usually work on Fridays.'? This is because we often think of the group as people, … But this sentence adds another layer of complication: “… how THEY use your comments …” That “they” treats “team” as a plural noun, which contradicts the singular nature of "the team shares." Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. After it had lost the match, the English team was disappointed. EnglishClub: Learn English: Grammar: Verbs: Subject-Verb Agreement: Collective Nouns Subject-Verb Agreement: collective nouns. Here is one way to decide if a collective noun is singular or plural. This happens when members of the group stop acting as a cohesive unit and begin acting as individuals. If one part of the sentence treats something as a plural, simplicity dictates that the other parts of the sentence do the same. For example, The United States women’s national soccer team is bound by the terms of its collective bargaining agreement with U.S. Soccer, a federal judge ruled Friday. The fast search works for all the columns. A has an "Argument of Wizards". This entry was posted Confusion often stems from the way that different forms of English handle agreement with collective nouns—specifically, whether or not to use the collective singular: the singular verb form with a collective noun.The plural verb forms are often used in British English with the singular forms of these count nouns (e.g., "The team have finished the project. Each noun from the list above is a single thing. They usually function as singular nouns … We often use singular nouns that refer to groups of people (for example: team, government, committee) as if they were plural. You can’t have a team without individual members; even so, we discuss a team as a single entity. It is considered singular in form. The jurors are deliberating.. In this sentence, the team sure seems like a single entity to me. DDD: Sorry it took so long to answer your question. The classic example is collective nouns for people. there’s only one group of the collective noun, then: B has a "Blessing of Unicorns". In “The couple is waiting at the airport,” the collective noun “couple” is functioning as a unit, so its verb is conjugated as singular: is. They tend to do it however it sounds natural. Collective nouns are in a class all their own. 2. Collective Noun Examples. These collective nouns are applicable to several groups of people or objects. Collective nouns are words that, although treated as singular, describe a group of people, places, things or ideas. Collective nouns, as the name suggests, refer to a group of persons, animals, or things. Team is something called a collective noun. Each noun from the list above is a single thing. Often, the best thing to do in a situation like this is rewrite the sentence. In most cases a collective noun can itself be plural. Enjoy! A collective noun looks singular, but it can be treated as singular or plural depending on whether the word refers to the group as a single entity or to its members as individuals. (That is, if you were being consistent, you'd say, "After they lost the match the English team WERE disappointed.") Check out these examples using Team as a collective noun. is it right? Examples include family, government, team, committee, panel, board, herd, flock, and company. This list of collective nouns for animals (also called collective terms and terms of venery) can never be definitive but it is fun. A “collective noun” refers to “plural-only” words such as cattle for cows and people for person. Some of these terms are very old, while others are newer and have become accepted after growing in use. Singular Verb or Plural Verb with Collective Nouns? Singular collective nouns When members of the group of a collective noun do things as one group or team, the collective noun is singular. The Quick Answer Most writers (especially in the US) treat collective nouns (e.g., team, group, company) as singular, and unless you have a good reason not to, you should treat your collective noun as singular too. Is the following sentence right or not? Use the right verbs and pronouns with collective nouns. Make collective nouns a simple concept and ease your confusion with these collective noun examples. One of the Collective Nouns for Cats is a Glaring of Cats. Collective nouns are sometimes confused with mass nouns.. Groups of people - army, audience, band, choir, class, committee, crew, family, gang, jury, orchestra, police, staff, team, trio. Collective nouns can be either singular or plural, depending on how they’re intended. So this “couple” really emphasizes plural individuals, and that’s why it takes a plural noun. She opted for “The team share how they.” If I wasn't at liberty to rewrite the sentence,  that's probably what I would have done, too. If the collective noun (team) is acting altogether as a single unit, you use a singular verb. The word team denotes a group of people, and is usually referred to as a collective noun. Similarly, you need a singular possessive pronoun when the collective noun is acting as a unit, as in this sentence: The cast will hold its annual Thank-God-Michael’s-Latest-Play-Is-Over Party tomorrow. is it right? They usually function as singular nouns in a sentence. Collective Noun Noun; Team 10: Athletes 1: Team 10: Cattle 6: Team 10: Ducks 14: Team 10: Footballers 2: Team 10: Horses 6: Team 10: Oxen 5: Team 10: Players 2: Team 10: Seals 11: Team 10: Geese 7: Team 10: Dolphins 4: Collective Noun Noun; TEAM 10. In other words, you can have more than one collective noun. A collective noun is a noun that can be singular in form whilst referring to a group of people or things. Examples of collective nouns include class, committee, flock, herd, team, audience, assembly, team, club, and so on. Discover & share them all with your friends! So to be consistent, we might write “The team share how they use your comments.” This is called pronoun-antecedent agreement, in which the pronoun "they" matches its antecedent "team.". Explain with grammatical ground with these sentences, please. Examples and Observations . Detailed grammar definitions are beyond the scope of this collective nouns for animals ADDucation list! “‘The WBL Team shares how they use your comments, customer feedback, and product reviews to ensure the best customer experience.’”. If you refer to members of a jury, it takes the plural form.. They'll be impressed. Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Permissions, GRADUATE COLLEGE OR GRADUATE FROM COLLEGE. There were three bunches of grapes on the plate. If, when writing about teams, you try too hard to apply rules and logic, the result can come off as decidedly unprofessional. The definition of glaring … By "1st letter" below... First Letter. Groups of animals - colony, flock, herd, pack, pod, school, swarm For example, in a game of football there are TWO teams. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. So it’s up to the writer to decide whether the “team” is functioning as a single unit or whether to emphasize the members' individuality. In American English, collective nouns usually take singular verb forms. Or is it right to say: In American English (British English differs on this issue, as it does on many others), collective nouns can be either singular or plural, depending on how the group is being spoken of in the sentence. “Members of the team share how they use …” But when that’s not an option, as it wasn’t for my sister, consistency is paramount. Here is a list of collective nouns in alphabetical order. In general, think of "team" as singular and modify it with the singular "this" instead of the plural "these. There is a difference, however, between American and … ", Notice how, in your second example, you're shifting from a plural "they" to a singular implied by the verb "was"? A wide variety of such words exist, but not all of them can be used in every context. The first one says “the team share” and the second one says “the team shares.” Team is something called a collective noun. Singular and plural forms are often mixed as are the pronouns that refer back to … The committee are having sandwiches for lunch. So treating it as singular by saying “the team shares” seems the better choice. Unfortunately, there are no good rules for knowing if a collective noun should be used as a singular noun or a plural noun. As for "this" vs. "these," the plural "these" would never go before "team." A Glaring of Cats. A collective noun is a noun—such as team, committee, jury, squad, orchestra, crowd, audience, and family—that refers to a group of individuals. In these situations, consistency is important. Below is a simple quiz to test your knowledge of collective nouns. A collective noun (e.g., team, group, herd) is a word that denotes a group of people or things. I believe you wanted "team," meaning a group of people, and not "team work," meaning their shared efforts. Select a letter to view all the collective nouns that start with that letter. –The New York Times; In this example, team takes the singular is because it is acting as a single unit. The standard position amongst grammarians and usage guide writers is that you can use either a singular or plural verb with a collective noun. A has an "Argument of … Collective Noun is a name used for a group of people, animals or objects that we group and we refer to as a whole unit that represents its parts..