1.2.3
Collective Nouns
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Lexis - Collective Nouns
You may remember from your study of English at GCSE that nouns are people, places or things. But there are many different types of nouns, which are called sub-classes.

Collective nouns
- Collective nouns are nouns used to describe groups.
- For example, a flock of birds and a litter of kittens.

Collective nouns - examples
- An army of ants.
- A gaggle of geese.
- A swarm of bees.
- A litter of puppies.
- A pack of hounds.
Lexis - Misconceptions About Nouns
It is not always clear which word in the sentence is the noun. Some words act as both nouns and verbs. Here are some examples:

Love
- I love this book.
- Love here is NOT a noun – it is a verb.
- Book is the noun in this sentence.

Hate
- I hate her! I am full of hatred.
- Hate here is NOT a noun - it is a verb.
- Hatred is the nounal form of hate in this sentence.

Insult
- Don't insult me like that!
- Insult sometimes acts as a noun, but here, insult is acting as a verb.

Object
- I object to you saying that.
- Object sometimes acts as a noun, But here, object is acting as a verb.
1Language Levels
1.1Assessment Objectives
1.2Lexis
1.2.1Introduction1.2.2Common, Proper, Abstract & Concrete Nouns1.2.3Collective Nouns1.2.4Adjectives1.2.5Main, Auxiliary & Copular Verbs1.2.6Dynamic & Stative Verbs1.2.7Transitive, Intransitive, Active & Passive Verbs1.2.8Mood of Verbs1.2.9Adverbs1.2.10Personal, Possessive & Reflexive Pronouns1.2.11Relative & Demonstrative Pronouns1.2.12Determiners1.2.13Conjunctions1.2.14Synonyms, Antonyms & Phonological Features1.2.15End of Topic Test - Lexis
1.3Grammar
1.4Semantics & Pragmatics
1.5Discourse Structure, Graphology & Orthography
2Language, The Individual & Society
2.1Children’s Language Development
2.2Children's Language Development - Theories
2.3Literacy Development: Reading
3Language Diversity & Change
3.1The Importance of Gendered Language
3.2Social Groups
3.3Occupational Groups
3.4Accents & Dialects
3.5Language Change
Jump to other topics
1Language Levels
1.1Assessment Objectives
1.2Lexis
1.2.1Introduction1.2.2Common, Proper, Abstract & Concrete Nouns1.2.3Collective Nouns1.2.4Adjectives1.2.5Main, Auxiliary & Copular Verbs1.2.6Dynamic & Stative Verbs1.2.7Transitive, Intransitive, Active & Passive Verbs1.2.8Mood of Verbs1.2.9Adverbs1.2.10Personal, Possessive & Reflexive Pronouns1.2.11Relative & Demonstrative Pronouns1.2.12Determiners1.2.13Conjunctions1.2.14Synonyms, Antonyms & Phonological Features1.2.15End of Topic Test - Lexis
1.3Grammar
1.4Semantics & Pragmatics
1.5Discourse Structure, Graphology & Orthography
2Language, The Individual & Society
2.1Children’s Language Development
2.2Children's Language Development - Theories
2.3Literacy Development: Reading
3Language Diversity & Change
3.1The Importance of Gendered Language
3.2Social Groups
3.3Occupational Groups
3.4Accents & Dialects
3.5Language Change
Practice questions on Collective Nouns
Can you answer these? Test yourself with free interactive practice on Seneca — used by over 10 million students.
- 1Which of these contain collective nouns?True / false
- 2Which sentence uses a collective noun?Multiple choice
- 3
- 4Which sentence uses the word __'suspect'__ as a noun?Multiple choice
- 5Which sentence contains a noun in bold?Multiple choice
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