Practical tools for learning and teaching grammar

Definition: 
These are names for groups of things, animals or 
people, which go together, or have something in common.
For example: 
A number of people in a group singing is a choir.
A number of cows in a group is a herd.
Note here that if the group word is singular then the verb following 
must also be singular.
For example: 
Correct – The choir 
was
rehearsing in the chapel.
Incorrect – The choir 
were
rehearsing in the chapel.
There may, of course, be more than one group. In which case the 
verb will be plural. 
The choirs 
were 
competing in the final.
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nouns

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1.3 Activities: collective nouns
Children enjoy discovering the group names of various kinds of wildlife, 
while adults often come across them in quizzes and crossword puzzles.
1. Which team can answer first? Give the collective noun for:
a. soldiers of a country (army)
b. many people gathered in one place (crowd/mob)
c. flowers (bunch)
d. people in a play (cast)
e. a group of sheep (mob)
f. people in a line (queue)
g. trees growing together (forest/wood/grove)
h. piglets born together (litter)
i. things thrown on top of one another (heap/pile/dump)
j. knives, forks and spoons (cutlery)
These questions can be asked and answered in writing and scored 
individually or in teams.
2. Students think of more collective nouns in a set time period.
3. Young students particularly, draw examples from the answers above. 
They should label their drawings with the correct collective nouns.
4. Students use a given number of the chosen nouns in sentences 
which are then read aloud. Humorous ones are very much enjoyed 
and most likely to be remembered.
5. Students research, using a dictionary, to find out the meaning of 
various words. They then write the thing that they apply to, for 
example: 
library – books for borrowing
pack
fleet
pride
union
troop
train
council
formation
lineage
compendium
6. Students choose a group word and act or mime it in the form of a 
charade, for others to guess, for example: 
audience – they act watching, clapping etc.
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GrAMMAr for eVerYone

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