A collective noun is a word for a group of people, animals, things, or ideas. For example, team and herd are collective nouns, because a team is made of many individual players and a herd is made of many individual animals.
Collective nouns are count nouns, but they are different from “regular” count nouns because even a singular collective noun (for one group) represents more than one individual. So in some ways, collective nouns can be singular and plural at the same time.
In this post, we will talk about what collective nouns are, some of the places where singular collective nouns “act” like plural nouns in a sentence, and how to say that an individual is part of a group using collective nouns. Are you ready to dive in and learn a little more about collective nouns in English? Let’s get started!
What is a collective noun?
A collective noun refers to a group of individual people, animals, things, or ideas.
Some collective nouns can be used to “collect” any type of noun (ex: group, collection, gathering…). But other collective nouns are mostly used to collect one type of thing. Depending on the individuals in the group, collective nouns can fall into categories like these ones:
Collective nouns for people 👫 :
crowd→ people
class→ students
team→ players
army→ soldiers
Collective nouns for animals 🐶 😺 :
flock→ birds
pack→ wolves, dogs
school→ fish
swarm→ insects
Collective nouns for things:
fleet→ ships
clutch→ eggs
deck→ car
Have a look at this list of collective nouns that only go with specific types of animals.
Are collective nouns singular or plural?
Collective nouns can be either singular or plural. They are always count nouns, so you can follow all of the same grammar rules as “regular” count nouns.
When you are talking about one collective noun (one class), then you will use a singular form of the noun.
✅ The class is meeting outside today.one group – use the singular class and a singular verb: isWhen you are talking about more than one collective noun (three classes), you will use the plural form.
✅ All of the third grade classes are going on the field trip.more than one group – use the plural classes and a plural verb: are
However, when we want to focus on the individual members of a group (students, birds,...), English speakers form the sentence around a singular collective noun like it is a plural noun instead. For example:
We use a singular collective noun with a plural verb.
John’s family all have different shoe sizes.here we use the plural have, not the singular hasWe refer to a singular collective noun using plural pronouns.
The group turned in their answers.here we use the plural their, not the singular its
Let’s talk a little bit about when to use a singular collective noun with a plural verb or with plural pronouns.
When to use a plural verb with a singular collective noun?
English speakers will occasionally use a plural verb with a singular collective noun when the members of a group are acting individually, not together. This is more common in British English than in American English.
However, using a plural verb with a singular collective noun may sound old-fashioned to some English speakers.
When to use plural pronouns to refer to a collective noun?
When a collective noun is plural, we always refer to it using the plural pronoun they:
Often, we will refer to a singular collective noun using a singular pronoun (it), especially when a group is working together as a unit or is a group of objects or ideas (not people or animals):
- ✅ The herd is moving towards the river. It will reach the water soon.
- ✅ The fleet arrived this morning. It is in the harbor.
But it is more common to use a plural pronoun (they/them/theirs) to refer back to a collective noun.
- ✅ The flock is making a lot of noise. Maybe I should go feed them.
- ✅ The crowd is getting bigger. I think they are excited for the show!
There are a few circumstances where you should always use a plural pronoun (they) for a singular collective noun:
If you have already used a plural verb (are, were, have…) with your singular collective noun, then refer back to that collective noun with a plural pronoun (they).
- ✅ The team are disagreeing about what to eat. They can’t decide between sandwiches and pizza.
- ❌ The team are disagreeing about what to eat. It can’t decide between sandwiches and pizza.
If you are using a possessive adjective (its/their) to refer back to a collective noun, there is a difference in meaning between using the singular (its) and the plural (their):
If every member of a group owns something equally, use the singular possessive (its).
✅ The group submitted its answers.the group owns the answers together (the teacher received 1 paper)If each member owns a unique version of the noun, use the plural possessive (their).
✅ The group submitted their answers.each group member owns a different set of answers (the teacher received 5 papers)
How to describe the members of a collective noun group?
You can describe the kind of members in a collective noun group by describing the collective noun using: of + plural noun. The plural noun describes the kind of individuals that make up the group.
- a collection of people
- a collection of elephants
- a collection of words
- a collection of toys
It can be very important to describe the members of a collective noun group, especially the first time you mention the collective noun. If your kid tells you, “I saw a swarm outside!” you don’t know what kind of swarm it is. It could be:
We need the of + type of member in order to understand what kind of swarm someone is referring to. Your child might be excited to see a swarm of butterflies, but not very excited to find a swarm of wasps!
That’s the basics of how to use collective nouns in English! You can stop now, or you can push on to a more advanced topic and learn some ways to talk about individuals that are part of a collective noun group.
How to say that something is part of a group?
You can use a collective noun to show that a noun is part of a group. There are two ways to do this in English:
You can use some collective nouns as adjectives. Like regular adjectives, collective noun adjectives come before the noun for the individual member of the group: collective noun + individual noun.
- ✅ One group member took notes during the discussion.
- ✅ My favorite Yankees player of all time is Babe Ruth.
- ✅ Two police officers went to the scene of the accident.
But be careful! Many collective nouns cannot be used as adjectives.
- ❌ One herd deer ate all my flowers.Compare: herd of deer
- ❌ A deck card was missing.Compare: deck of cards
- ❌ Three clutch eggs hatched today!Compare: clutch of eggs
More often, we put the collective noun inside a prepositional phrase (preposition + noun) and use that to describe an individual noun. Use the formula:
individual noun
preposition
collective noun
One member of the group took notes during the discussion.Babe Ruth is my all-time favorite player from the Yankees.Two officers of the police went to the scene of the accident.One deer from the herd ate all my flowers.One card from the deck was missing.Three eggs in the clutch hatched today!The two most common prepositions we use to do this are of and from, but we can use other prepositions, depending on the context and the collective noun.
How to say that you are part of a collective noun group?
If you (the speaker) are a member of the group the collective noun describes, then use one of the possessive adjectives my or our before the collective noun:
But be careful about the pronouns you use to refer back to a collective noun if you are a part of the group!
To describe another action that you (the speaker) and the group did together, always use first person plural pronouns like we, our, or ours.
- ✅ My team won the first five games that we played.
- ✅ Our team won the first five games that we played.
If you refer back to a collective noun for a group you are part of using the pronoun they, people will assume that the other members of the group did something, but that you did not. Here’s an example:
- My team won the first five games that they played.I am a member of the team, but I did not play in the first five games or I am the coach/owner/fan of the team, but not a member of the team.
Do not use it to refer to a collective noun when you are part of the group.
- My team won the first five games that it played.You can only say this if you are not a member of the team, and even then it sounds strange. Using it makes it sound like you do not know about the individual players on the team.
Summary
In this post, we looked at collective nouns and discussed how they refer to collections of people, animals, or things. Collective nouns act just like regular nouns and they can be singular or plural and use singular or plural pronouns.
You can also identify what type of collective noun you’re talking about by following the mass noun with of + type of member, and you can specify an individual member of a mass noun by turning the collective noun into an adjective and then adding an individual noun.
Ready to test your collective noun skills? Check out these collective noun practice activities!
