Collective nouns refer to groups of animals, objects, or people and generally use a singular verb. English has specialized collective nouns for each animal species, which are often unusual and humorous. Some writers create their own collective nouns for objects or people based on venery terms.
A collective noun is a word that refers to a group of animals, objects, or people. Examples include team, pair, and the word group itself. Although they include multiple elements, collective nouns generally use a singular verb, as in “the team is winning.” In English, collective nouns referring to groups of animals are often colorful and unusual; for example, a group of crows is called murder. This has led many writers and humorists to come up with their own collective nouns, like a bunch of girls.
A noun, as most English speakers know, is a word that refers to an object, place, or person. Almost all sentences require nouns such as subject and object, in other words what acts and what is acted on. Most nouns have plural forms, and these require plural verbs, such as are and were. Collective nouns are used when referring to multiple items as a single unit; therefore, they require singular verbs. When dividing the group into individual units, plural verbs again apply, even if the collective noun is still present, such as “Team members were elated with their victory.”
Some collective nouns can be used for any purpose, such as group, pair, and collection. Others have more specific uses; for example, the collective noun herd usually refers to a group of animals. It is only used in other cases when the speaker wants to compare a group to a herd of animals. Other non-animal-specific collective nouns include herd and herd. Collective nouns that can refer to people include band, troop, and mob.
A well-known quirk of the English language is the existence of a specialized collective noun for each different species of animal. Many of these venery, or game, terms were first used by British hunters in the 1600s. These colorful terms, like a flock of geese and a summons of eagles, have delighted many amateur and professional language learners over the years. . Other examples include a finch charm, a lark exaltation, and the dramatic-sounding murder of crows.
This type of collective noun is rarely used in everyday speech. It remains popular, however, due to its offbeat and sometimes humorous nature. Many writers have coined their own collective nouns for objects or people based on the terms venery. Examples include a pew of bishops, a philosopher meditator, and a shower of meteorologists. It should be noted, however, that unlike the terms venery, these are not standard English and are mostly used for humorous or flashy effect.
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