Collective nouns

A collective noun denotes a collection of people, things, animals, emotions or concepts considered as a single whole.

A collective noun is usually treated as singular.

Consider the expression ‘a committee of members’

There can be several members but only one committee. In this case, ‘members’ is a common noun whereas ‘committee’ is a collective noun.

More examples of collective nouns are given below.

• A bunch of grapes or keys
• A gang of bandits
• A class of students
• An army of soldiers
• A hive of bees
• A fleet of ships
• A constellation of stars or galaxy
• An archipelago of islands
• A bevy of girls
• A crowd of people
• A mob of people
• A swarm of flies
• A jury of judges
• A herd of cattle
• A flock of sheep
• A team of players

Examples are given below.

• This class consists of fifty students.
• The jury was unanimous in its decision.
• The crowd was too large to be controlled by the police.
• The mob attacked the police station.
• The Australian cricket team is scheduled to visit India in July.
• A bevy of girls entered the garden.
• A bunch of keys was lying on the table.
• You can find a swarm of flies hovering over uncovered trays of sweets.
• The crew of sailors controlled the ship in the stormy sea.

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