Collective Nouns

What are Collective Nouns?

Collective Nouns refer to a collection or group of people, things, or animals. We treat them as singular, even though they represent a collection or group.

Collective Nouns are not the same as Uncountable Nouns. Uncountable Nouns are literally not countable, while collective nouns are countable. Though they may be many, they are only grouped for a purpose.

example:

"club" 

This word means an organized body, a body of people with a particular purpose, especially a business, society, or association.

Instead of using "the members" or "people in this circle" in a sentence, we use "club" to make it precise.

Although the word 'club' means a circle or group of people, we still treat it as singular. Instead of using they or them pronouns to substitute the group, we use the pronouns "it" and "its"

example:

"The club voted for the implementation of its new rules." 

Notice: We used “its”  as a pronoun for "club".  Be aware that we use “its” to substitute a single thing.

Another example:

"The choir is tidying up the headquarters."

"Choir" is also a collective noun. Though the word "choir" refers to a group of multiple individuals, it still functions as singular. Therefore we used "is" in this sentence instead of "are".

more examples of  Collective Nouns:

crowd

society

association

organization

institution

group

circle

set

clique

coterie

band

body

ring

crew

troupe

affiliation

alliance

league

union

federation

company

coalition

consortium

combine

guild

lodge

order

fraternity

brotherhood

sorority

fellowship

sodality

group

choir

band

government

army

police

navy

board

management

committee

flock

family

senate

clergy