Can collective nouns be used with both countable and uncountable nouns?

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Asked by Shailja Singh
1 Answer
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7 months ago

Collective nouns are usually used with countable nouns like people, animals, and things. There are rare cases when collective nouns are used with uncountable nouns.

Example:

  • A herd of elephants. (Correct)
  • A herd of sugar. (Incorrect)

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Yes, 'United Nations' can be considered as a collective noun. It represents a group of countries working together for global issues like human rights, health, peace, etc. The United Nations is made up of many members, but is treated as one organization, making it a collective noun.

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Yes, 'police' is a collective noun. It represents a body of officers acting together. Additionally, unlike many other English collective nouns, 'police' is always used with a plural verb. Simply put, instead of saying 'police is', we say 'police are'.

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Collective nouns for animals are the English words used to name a group of the same species. For instance, instead of saying 'many lions' we say 'a pride of lions'. Similarly, there are unique names for different groups of animals. 

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No, collective nouns are not just restricted to objects. According to Oxford Dictionary collective noun is, “a singular noun, such as committee or team, that refers to a group of people, animals or things. 

Here are some collective nouns examples for reference.

Collective Nouns
PeopleThingsAnimals
  1. A crew of workers
  2. A team of players
  3. A staff of employees
  4. A mob of protestors
  5. A delegation of diplomats
  1. A fleet of cars
  2. A heap of clothes
  3. A range of mountains
  4. A set of tools
  5. A deck of cards
  1. A colony of ants
  2. A troop of monkeys
  3. A cloud of bats
  4. A litter of puppies
  5. A pod of dolphins

Yes, there are many collective nouns in English that are used for groups of people. For instance, in school we use class for students, and in music, we use choir for singers.

Collective Nouns for People

  • A committee of members
  • A crowd of spectators
  • A herd of harlots
  • A gang of prisoners

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English Nouns

English Nouns

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