💡🧠 Grammar Lesson: Collective Nouns
A collective noun is one that is structurally singular but refers to a plural. Examples of collective nouns include the following (but there are countless others):
group
collection
litter (of animals) 🐈🐈🐈
herd 🐄🐄🐄
flock (of birds) 🐦🐦🐦
school (of fish) 🐟🐠🐡
family 👨👩👦
trio
pair
team
Notice that each of those nouns is singular (the words do not end with -s) but refers to more than one item.
In American English, collective nouns are generally singular except for “people” and “police.” (In British English, collective nouns are plural.) For example, a football club (soccer team) is considered a plural entity in British English, whereas in American English, it is treated as one singular unit:
Image via EnglishClub
Proceeding in American English, the following are correct:
My family is going to Maui during winter break. 🏝🐳
Our football team is exceeding expectations this year; it might actually compete for the league title. 🏈🏆
A flock of birds flying in perfect synchronicity is a sight to behold. 🕊
The trio of appetizers appeals to my younger brother. 🍠🥙🥑😋
The group of contestants expects the judges’ results by next week. 🤞
⚠ However, there is one big exception:
“A lot of [x]”, “a bunch of [x],” and “a number of [x]” are all considered plural. The most basic reason for this is that all of them essentially mean ‘many’ (and “many” is always plural). For example, all of these are plural:
A lot of movie-watchers were disappointed by the director’s latest film. 🎬👎
Lately, a number of dogs have been barking at odd hours of the night. 🐕
A bunch of children are looking forward to receiving Christmas presents from Santa. 🎅
💡 Pro Tip: If you are concerned that you might misuse “a lot of,” “a number of,” and “a bunch of,” just replace them with easier synonyms, including “many” and “several.” 👌
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