Grammar
Determiners : Word order

1st Part
Proper and common nouns

2nd Part
Countable vs. Uncountable Nouns

3nd Part
Collective and compound nouns

Grammar in use

  • Topic : Collective and compound nouns
  • Skills : Grammar

Use

What is a collective noun?

a family

a team

They represent a group and are generally used in the singular form and followed by a verb in the singular.
Sometimes, however, they can be in the singular followed by a verb in the plural, in order to insist on the individuals in the group rather than on the group as a whole; in this case, the pronoun would be ‘they’.

Example:
All of the staff were very polite. They were also helpful.
The audience don’t seem to enjoy themselves.
My family are not coming this year.

What is a compound noun?

basketball

a steamboat

A compound noun is a noun that is made up of 2 or more words.
It can be in 1 word, 2 or more juxtaposed words, 2 or more words separated by a hyphen(-).
Examples:
a policeman
a police station
the check-out
the mother-in-law

The first element gives more information about the second element.
Examples:
a racehorse (a horse that participates in races)
a horse race (a race between horses)

For the plural, there are 3 possibilities:

Possibility 1:Possibility 2:Possibility 3:
if only one element is a noun, this noun will be in the plural.if both elements or neither are nouns, the second one takes the plural form.if one of the elements is â€žman‟ or „woman‟, both are modified.
Example:
passer-by →  passers-by		Examples:
tooth-brush → tooth-brushes
grown-up →  grown-ups		Examples:
gentleman-farmer →  gentlemen-farmers
woman-doctor →  women-doctors

Answer the following questions