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00:00Hello everyone, this is Alex and welcome again to LearnOva.
00:05Well, I'm gonna do a little story today.
00:08It's a hot summer day.
00:10Lino the Lion, Jira the Giraffe and Elfo the Elephant wanted to go and meet their friend, Froggy the Frog.
00:19They wanted to go for a nice swim in the pond with Froggy.
00:24On their way to the pond, they heard a noise.
00:29They saw a herd of buffaloes grazing on grass.
00:34They looked above and saw a flock of geese flying in a V-shape.
00:39Before they reached the pond, they were about to step on a colony of ants.
00:47They also saw a pride of lions.
00:50There were eight of them.
00:53They finally reached the pond and saw a school of fish.
00:58They told their friend Froggy about all the groups of animals they saw on their way to the pond.
01:05Now, have you noticed the groups of animals in the story?
01:10They've seen a herd of buffaloes, a flock of geese, a colony of ants, a pride of lions and a school of fish.
01:20These are all collective nouns.
01:23Collective nouns name a group of people, animals or things as one whole.
01:29Usually, collective nouns are used with a singular verb and a singular pronoun.
01:35Take a look at this example.
01:37The team of players.
01:39Would you say is or are doing great?
01:44Would I say the team of players is doing great or the team of players are doing great?
01:50Well, that's a little bit tricky because you can see the word players there and it's plural, right?
01:56But no, the word team of players is a collective noun and it works as one whole.
02:03So the team of players is doing great.
02:07If you wish to replace the collective noun here, the team of players, with a pronoun, would you use it or they?
02:17That's right. Since it's a collective noun, we treat it as one whole.
02:23So it's always singular.
02:25We replace the collective noun team of players with the pronoun it.
02:31It is doing great.
02:35That's right.
02:37Some of the frequently used collective nouns are team of players, a class of students, a group of people, a cast of actors, a band of musicians.
02:50These are all groups of people.
02:52What about groups of animals?
02:54You can say a litter of puppies or a litter of kittens, a flock of birds, you know, pigeons, parrots or seagulls, a flock of sheep, a colony of ants.
03:10You can also say a herd of cows or buffaloes or elephants or donkeys, a pack of dogs or coyotes or wolves, a swarm of bees, a school of fish or sharks, and a tribe of lions.
03:28How about things? Do we also use collective nouns with things?
03:32Oh yeah, we do that.
03:34Check out those collective nouns.
03:36A bunch of flowers or a bunch of bananas.
03:40You can also say a bouquet of flowers, a flight of stairs, a deck of cards, a basket of plums, or a string of pearls.
03:54These are all collective nouns and remember, we treat them as one whole and they are always singular.
04:00Well, that's pretty much everything about collective nouns.
04:03Let's check out how much you've learned today.
04:05Scroll down and take a quick quiz now.
04:08Good luck!