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English Quiz - Nouns (Collective) 01 (Questions)

Collective nouns signify groups, such as "team", "group", "orchestra" or "herd".

How many different types of noun do you know? Collective nouns can be fun. You can have a "litter" of kittens, a "herd" of elephants, and a "convocation" of eagles. And did you know that a group of crows is called a "murder"? Spooky!

Collective nouns can be a little bit troublesome grammatically. Remember that even though a sentence might be referring to many people or animals, the collective noun, or name of the group, is singular. So it would not be correct to say "the herd of elephants flatten the grass" because "herd" is singular. One way to test this is to remove the plural element, like this: "the herd flattens the grass". Here, you can see that "flattens" is the correct form of the verb, rather than "flatten". Likewise: "the orchestra plays", "the team wins again" and "the group succeeds".

See how much you have learned in your classes by playing the following quiz about collective nouns.

1. Find the correct collective noun for the following.
An ....... of ants.
[ ] army
[ ] cluster
[ ] hive
[ ] navy
2. Find the correct collective noun for the following.
A ....... of geese.
[ ] gaggle
[ ] goggle
[ ] hiss
[ ] quack
3. Find the correct collective noun for the following.
A ....... of bees.
[ ] army
[ ] hive
[ ] navy
[ ] nest
4. Find the correct collective noun for the following.
A ....... of fish.
[ ] net
[ ] form
[ ] sea
[ ] shoal
5. Find the correct collective noun for the following.
A ....... of porpoises.
[ ] army
[ ] pod
[ ] sea
[ ] shoal
6. Find the correct collective noun for the following.
A ....... of sheep.
[ ] flock
[ ] herd
[ ] pen
[ ] stable
7. Find the correct collective noun for the following.
A ....... of elephants.
[ ] flock
[ ] group
[ ] herd
[ ] school
8. Find the correct collective noun for the following.
A ....... of penguins.
[ ] colony
[ ] flock
[ ] herd
[ ] school
9. Find the correct collective noun for the following.
A ....... of birds.
[ ] aviary
[ ] colony
[ ] flock
[ ] nest
10. Find the correct collective noun for the following.
A ....... of flies.
[ ] buzz
[ ] flock
[ ] hive
[ ] swarm

You can find more about this topic by visiting BBC Bitesize - What is a noun?

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English Quiz - Nouns (Collective) 01 (Answers)
1. Find the correct collective noun for the following.
An ....... of ants.
[x] army
[ ] cluster
[ ] hive
[ ] navy
The collective noun here is "army"
2. Find the correct collective noun for the following.
A ....... of geese.
[x] gaggle
[ ] goggle
[ ] hiss
[ ] quack
"Gaggle" is the collective noun
3. Find the correct collective noun for the following.
A ....... of bees.
[ ] army
[x] hive
[ ] navy
[ ] nest
A "swarm" of bees could also be used as a collective noun phrase
4. Find the correct collective noun for the following.
A ....... of fish.
[ ] net
[ ] form
[ ] sea
[x] shoal
A "school" of fish would also be a collective noun phrase
5. Find the correct collective noun for the following.
A ....... of porpoises.
[ ] army
[x] pod
[ ] sea
[ ] shoal
"Pod" is the collective noun here
6. Find the correct collective noun for the following.
A ....... of sheep.
[x] flock
[ ] herd
[ ] pen
[ ] stable
"A flock of sheep" is a collective noun phrase
7. Find the correct collective noun for the following.
A ....... of elephants.
[ ] flock
[ ] group
[x] herd
[ ] school
"Herd" is also used for cows
8. Find the correct collective noun for the following.
A ....... of penguins.
[x] colony
[ ] flock
[ ] herd
[ ] school
The collective noun, e.g. "flock", is always singular. In a sentence, it takes a verb with a third-person singular conjugation, i.e. The flock of geese is flying south
9. Find the correct collective noun for the following.
A ....... of birds.
[ ] aviary
[ ] colony
[x] flock
[ ] nest
Although "flock" and "colony" are singular, the concrete nouns "birds" and "penguins" are plural
10. Find the correct collective noun for the following.
A ....... of flies.
[ ] buzz
[ ] flock
[ ] hive
[x] swarm
Although made up of many flies, the "swarm" itself is singular