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Questions tagged [collective-nouns]

Questions or inquiries relating to nouns that refer to a group as a whole.

A collective noun is one that refers to a group of individual items, whatever those items are. A collective noun is grammatically singular, but semantically plural since it refers to many things with a single word. This sometimes leads to confusion about the correct form of verb agreement or pluralization of such nouns.

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What is a collective term for castles, citadels, forts, palaces etc.?

We at Travel-SE are having an ongoing tag reorganization, and we're trying to find a collective term that encompasses the following: castles châteaux (which are really castles, but not every castle is a château) palaces forts citadels country…
Martin Tapankov
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Collective Noun for Fire

What is the collective noun for fire? A ____ of fires. To clarify: This is actually a school curriculum text question and I have never heard of such a collective noun. This is an example I can think of: Suppose that several fires raged yesterday…
Vincent Ramdhanie
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Does the collective noun "parliament of owls" originate in "parliament of fowls"?

Chaucer wrote a 700-line poem called The Parlement of Foules about an assembly of birds. Is there any evidence that this is the origin of the usage "parliament of owls" as a collective noun, possibly through mis-hearing the original?
poc
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What is a group of cars on the road called?

For rental agencies and companies, the cars owned would be a fleet. Several cars escorting a VIP would be a motorcade. However, what if I want to say: I dislike being the lone driver in an empty stretch of highway, so I may end up speeding to get…
Alok
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What is the collective noun for "clouds"?

I've been looking at various forums with people proposing suggestions, but is there a consensus on what the collective noun is for "clouds"?
death_au
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Is "school" a collective noun?

Identify the collective noun in the sentence: "Students have to take their entire school books home on the last day of school." I couldn't find any credible sources stating that "school" is a collective noun or otherwise (although The Free…
its_me
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What is the collective noun for arrows in motion?

I've tried to look for a collective noun for arrows that are in motion and most internet results suggest a quiver of arrows and a sheaf of arrows. However, a quiver is a container that holds arrows and a sheaf is a bundle of arrows tied together. In…
PodGen4
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What is the collective noun for a group of magpies?

I have searched for this and found no definitive answer or answers. This website says it is a parliament, where as this one lists several others (conventicle, gulp, mischief, tidings or tittering) and an old BBC article says tiding, charm or…
Matthew Wilson
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What is the collective noun for a group of giraffes?

My son's primary school teacher has written A kaleidoscope of giraffes But elsewhere I see a tower of giraffes. And yet elsewhere again I see journey and few others.
Stew-au
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Uncollective noun for Proration

What is the uncollective noun for proration, which can be used with 's'? people; collective noun person; uncollective noun The proration above can be used in such a context. Ex. Changing a subscription often results in a proration: a charge…
Peco
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Can singular verbs be used with a plural possessive?

Is this correct?: The group of students does their work well. The group, the subject, I consider singular. When it comes to the possessive, though, I feel like it would be wrong to refer to a group of people as "it." Would it be correct to use…
L.C.
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Collective term for driving, flying and walking systems/hardware?

Not sure if this is the correct place to ask but it is about the English language. I am looking for a collective word that describes the movement hardware for a robot. I am making a game where the player can equip it's own type of movement hardware…
Madmenyo
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Classification of Band as a Collective Noun

The band of musicians was playing.- here band is a collective noun. The musical band is popular among teenagers.- Can I say band is a collective noun in this context?
programmer_360
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Question on usage of "clientele"

Between these two sentences, which (if either) is correct in American English: Our clientele range from a small non-profit to a billion dollar corporation... or Our clientele ranges from a small non-profit to a billion dollar corporation... A…
Umopepisdn
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What does an atomizer spray?

What does an atomizer spray? A spritz? A drop? Something else? I'm helping a friend write marketing copy, and we'd like to give the instruction "spray two drops onto your hand", and we would especially like to avoid the comical "spray two…
jimmy_joyce
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