Questions or inquiries relating to nouns that refer to a group as a whole.
0
votes
0answers
95 views
“India have won” vs. “India has won” [duplicate]
I would like to know when to use singular or plural verb agreement when talking about a country. E.g.,
India have won the match.
India has won the match.
Which statement is grammatical? ...
0
votes
0answers
105 views
A majority of those whose family or families
Is "family" both plural and singular? or would I have to say families for the plural form. for example, which of these is the best option:
"A majority of those whose family were unaware of their ...
3
votes
2answers
116 views
When ordering coffee, do you say “two milks” or “two milk”?
I've already searched the site if this question had been asked before however I didn't find anything related to my question. Every time I order coffee some people sort of correct me by saying 2 milks ...
2
votes
3answers
525 views
“There is a plethora…” or “There are a plethora…”? [duplicate]
A simple question that has sparked some debate, and I couldn't find a concrete answer anywhere. There seems to be two camps: The word plethora indicates plural, so therefore it should be "There are a ...
1
vote
2answers
525 views
Is “fireworks” singular or plural?
As I understand, when referring to a single concept, one would use "ham and cheese is", but "fruit and nuts are".
Now, can one have a single firework, or is/are fireworks simultaneously singular and ...
0
votes
2answers
441 views
If collective nouns use the plural verb form, are they plural in other contexts too? [closed]
According to Wikipedia, in British English, it is generally accepted that collective nouns can take either singular or plural verb forms. How does this affect their property of being singular or ...
0
votes
0answers
14 views
“Acme Ltd provide” vs. “Acme Ltd provides” [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Are collective nouns always plural, or are certain ones singular?
I'm a little confused if I should be using provide or provides in the following situation.
Acme ...
2
votes
2answers
230 views
Singular or plural verb after collective noun initialism
Are companies/groups of people considered plural? What about their initialisms?
I'm unsure if I should use have (plural verb) or has (singular) in the following situations:
The Federal Bureau ...
1
vote
1answer
89 views
Is there a collective term for charges & fees?
Say I have documentation of a particular account with both amounts credited & amounts charged(fees). What would be an appropriately descriptive term for the collection of credits & ...
10
votes
5answers
841 views
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 ...
-1
votes
3answers
576 views
Is “school” a collective noun? [closed]
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 ...
4
votes
2answers
296 views
Does modifying a collective noun with a number make the subject plural?
The word dozen is a collective noun, i.e., singular when we think of them as groups and plural when we think of the individuals acting within the whole. So we might say:
Talking about eggs: "A ...
9
votes
3answers
1k views
Collective nouns and subject-verb agreement: general rule or arbitrary?
A newspaper ran this headline recently:
(1) Police crack down on IAC protesters. [emph added]
Why did it not read:
(2) ? Police cracks down on IAC protesters.
I have found instances of ...
2
votes
1answer
756 views
Collective noun “police” — singular or plural? [closed]
A newspaper ran this headline today:
Police crack down on IAC protesters.
Isn't the following more appropriate?
Police cracks down on IAC protesters.
3
votes
6answers
297 views
youngest of his siblings [closed]
I have a problem with this sentence:
He was one of the youngest of his siblings.
The meaning should be clear: he had many brothers and sisters, and he was one of the youngest of the lot, but the ...
1
vote
1answer
405 views
Pronouns for collective nouns (British and American)
British and American English differ in the way they conjugate verbs for collective nouns: http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=877. For example, an American would probably say "China is winning" ...
4
votes
5answers
325 views
Accurate British English term for an oblong deck from shore out into a lake where you tie your rowing boat
This is a typical image of the structure in question:
There are also some variations, shown in this Google image search.
But I'm after the often not very wide, some 20-30 feet long wood ...
0
votes
2answers
146 views
Destroy or Destroys [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is a company always plural, or are small companies singular?
I came across a mocked up newspaper article earlier and there was a discussion about whether the following ...
2
votes
4answers
170 views
Word for “a group of contests”
What is a word for a group of contests? It doesn't necessarily have to be a real word, just something that's concise and obvious, possibly something like decathlon but for an indeterminate number of ...
4
votes
2answers
561 views
When did “crew” become a sport? When did “crew team” come into use?
When I was a child, there was a sport called rowing; if four or more people rowed together in the same boat, they would be known as a crew. At some point, either before or during my childhood, the ...
9
votes
4answers
1k views
What do you call someone with the same occupation as you, but works for a different company?
What do you call someone who works in the same field or occupation as you do, but in a different company or organization?
1
vote
3answers
305 views
Two word phrase to refer to community of people who come together to exchange knowledge [closed]
I need a two word phrase to refer to a community of people (academia + non-academia) who come together to share/exchange their knowledge/ideas openly on topics of their interests/ specializations.
I ...
3
votes
2answers
2k views
Why is it a school/shoal of fish, dolphins, porpoises and squids for example, but rather a pod/gam/herd/mob of whales?
Would it be incorrect to say 'a school' of whales?
2
votes
8answers
366 views
Collective noun for “facts”
I'm looking to refer to a group of facts and I'm not sure what the best term to use for them would be. From what I can tell there isn't any sort of standard collective noun for facts, so it's going ...
25
votes
9answers
996 views
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 ...
5
votes
3answers
2k views
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"?
3
votes
5answers
1k views
What is the “group name” for students who entered / left university in the same year?
For example, I entered my university in 2006, so I am a student of "grade 2006" (a direct translation from my own language). What is the proper English?
Besides, I need the word for students ...
7
votes
3answers
257 views
Is ‘USAers’ just an ordinary English word today?
I saw the word, ‘USAers’ in the lead copy of Reuter’s news titled ‘Gippered’ in Time magazine (September 6), which says:
“More than 1/3 of USAers say they are worse off under Bam.
Warning-sign ...
2
votes
2answers
11k views
Is “group” singular or plural? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is a company always plural, or are small companies singular?
When I'm referring to a group of multiple things, should it be considered singular or plural for the ...
3
votes
1answer
619 views
Etymology of seemingly weird collective nouns [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Terms for collections of animals
In the collective names unkindness of ravens, shrewdness of apes, murder of crows, I cannot find any remote relation to a group. What is ...
7
votes
7answers
360 views
Are there meta-plurals beyond “peoples”?
The plural of "person" is "people". The plural of "people" is "peoples". Person-people-peoples is the only sequence like this that I know of, but I'm looking for another.
(The equivalent question ...
8
votes
15answers
1k views
Simple word related to “a group of intellectuals” or “a group of smart learners”
What could be a good word for "a group of intellectuals" or "a group of smart learners"? Any suggestions of related terms also invited.
3
votes
3answers
787 views
What is the collective noun for a collection of collective nouns? [closed]
murder : crows :: _ : collective nouns
Sorry, no multiple choice this time.
3
votes
6answers
3k views
In special cases, can you use “one such family are” vs. “one such family is”?
Is it correct to say "one such family are..." as opposed to "one such family is..." in some circumstances?
Say, for instance, as used in this article on gene families:
[...] One such family are ...
16
votes
4answers
2k views
A murder of crows?
I love the subset of collective nouns known as the terms of venery. These are collective nouns specific to a particular group of animals. Some of the more inventive examples are: a murder of crows, a ...
1
vote
3answers
263 views
“Much feces” vs. “many feces”
I want to know which word I should use in the following sentence:
How many/much feces does a human produce in one year?
I found that both versions exist on the Internet.
Any help would be ...
6
votes
4answers
3k views
Which is correct: “All the media is” or “all the media are”?
I think I know that media is a plural word.
So then which one is correct,
"All the media is"
or
"All the media are"?
When you search Google, both seem to appear at the same ...
2
votes
2answers
475 views
Conjugating verbs for nouns referring to groups of people [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is staff plural?
Frequently when reading tech articles, I see sentences like "Microsoft have released ..." or "Apple have announced ...".
This seems wrong to me because ...
3
votes
2answers
583 views
What is the plural of “copy” when applied to the output of copywriters?
If a Copywriter produces several articles for printing, what are his works collectively known as?
I feel the answer is not copies as this would indicate it is several articles reproduced from an ...
22
votes
8answers
11k views
Are collective nouns always plural, or are certain ones singular?
I'd say Microsoft have a way of bending the rules and I know that McLaren have won the championship. While this sounds strange, I believe it is correct English (sorry, I'm not native).
But when it's ...
