COLLECTIVE NOUNS
A collective noun is a noun that refers to a group or collection of similar people,
animals or things.
Collective nouns are used when you want to refer to a whole group of people or objects
but you don’t want to call them all by their separate names. For instance, you wouldn’t
list all the members of a sports team in one sentence but rather you would call them a
team.
Underline the collective nouns in the following sentences.
a. The Team New Zealand crew attended the charity dinner.
b. A school of dolphins raced freely at the boy of the boat.
c. The year there will be national elections held to vote in our government.
d. There are fifteen people in a rugby team.
e. My mum had to go to a fundraising committee meeting at the Plunket rooms.
Choose from the box below the appropriate collective noun to fill in the missing word
and complete the following phrases.
litter gang colony choir gaggle army fleet bouquet pride cluster
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a. An army of soldiers
b. A Litter of ants
c. A Bouquet of flowers
d. A Gang of thieves
e. A Colony of lions
f. A Cluster of stars
g. A Fleet of ships
h. A Pride of puppies
i. A Choir of singers
j. A Gaggle of geese
3) In Groups
The phrase a lot is often used when people don’t know the correct collective noun.
Rewrite these phrases using the correct collective noun.
A) A Bunch of bananas.
B) A Pack of biscuits.
C) A Group of soldiers.
D) A Fleet of ships.
E) A Collection of beads.
4. Fill a space.
Choose a collective noun from the box for each space in these sentences.
Circle what each collective noun refers to.
Board squadron suite bundle collection
suit committee batch cluster pearl
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a) Her ring has a large Pearl of rubies.
b) The new Suite was moved into the lounge.
c) A Squadron of planes flew past in formation.
d) Sam carried a Bundle of sticks to make a fire.
e) Every Sunday morning a Cluster of bells rang out.
f) Mum always made a Batch of muffins on Saturday.
g) Mr Brown bought a new Suit of clothes.
h) Dad has a Collection of reggae music CDs.
i) A Board of directors held a morning business meeting.
j) The Committee of the tennis club met to discuss tournaments.
E. Group Gatherings.
What would you expect people to be doing in these groups? One is done for you as an example.
a) A crew - Team mates
b) Choir - Singing group
c) Orchestra - People playing instruments
d) Queue - People/Vehicles waiting to be attended to
e) Troupe – performing in a dance
What collection of things would make up these groups?
a) a suburb - District or city
b) an album - photos
c) a galaxy - A hug collection of gas
d) a wardrobe - A closet
