The audience are all wearing comedy wigs.However, in the second example, the shoal is considered as lots of individuals, and 'shoal' is treated as plural.)

Therefore, 'shoal' is treated as singular. (In the first sentence, the shoal is considered as one unit.

The shoal were darting in all directions.

You should treat a collective noun (shaded in the examples below) as singular or plural depending on the sense of your sentence.

In other words, should you write 'the group is' or 'the group are'? Well, both can be right. Some collective nouns are quite versatile.īy far the most common question about collective nouns is whether to treat them as singular or plural. The video also covers how the context determines whether your collective noun is singular or plural and how to use the 'wrong' collective noun for a literary effect (e.g., a forest of soldiers, a pack of ships). Here is a 4-minute video summarizing this lesson on collective nouns. Here are some examples of common collective nouns used for things: Of interest, collective nouns that describe a specific group of animals are called 'terms of venery.' Here are some examples of common collective nouns used for animals: Here are some examples of common collective nouns used for people: Below are some examples of the most common ones for people, animals, and things. Hope now you have understood what a collective noun of books is called.There are lots of collective nouns. They are used in different places like offices, homes and libraries, etc.

Shelf of books – A shelf of books is an item of furniture in which the books are stored. The compendium of books – It refers to the collection of expected or full knowledge about a particular topic in a specified book or many other publishers. The pile of books – It refers to a place in which the books are kept or laid on the top, above each other on a bookshelf. They are used for reading or collecting information about the different topics in one place. Library of books – It refers to a place or area in a building where all the books are kept or stored. The collection of noun is denoted as a singular noun.Some of the examples of collective nouns are a group of boys/ girls, a company of engineers, a class of students, a bulk of software, a society of people, a store of books, etc. The collective noun refers to the names of a group or collection of people or the things or places that are taken together or simultaneously and spoken as a whole commonly. These are a few points that will help you to understand Collective nouns. There are many ways to learn about the collective noun.

What is collective noun