A __ of Fish

Fill in the blank with a collective noun: A ___of fish

A school of fish

Collective Noun

A collective noun is a type of noun that refers to a group of individuals, most often people, like a group of people, a team, or an organisation (for example eleven football players) a nuclear unit (for example mother, father, and two children) a crew (for example 100 sailors).

One definition of the term “collective noun” is “a word that refers to a group of things considered as a whole.” The majority of collective nouns that are used in everyday speech are not limited to referring to a single category of things. 

For instance, the collective noun “group” can be used to refer to individuals (as in “a group of people”), canines (as in “a group of dogs”), or any number of other things.

Some collective nouns are only used to refer to a single category of thing, such as the terms of venery that are used to identify groups of particular animals.

For instance, in the context of veneration, the word “pride” always refers to lions and never to dogs or cows. Other examples can be found in popular cultures, such as the fact that a gathering of owls is referred to as a “parliament.”

There are a few distinct ways that various varieties of English handle verb agreement with collective count nouns.

For instance, users of British English generally accept that collective nouns can take either singular or plural verb forms depending on the context and the metonymic shift that it implies. This is the case in most other varieties of English as well.

Collective nouns are the names of a group or collection of people, animals, or other objects that are spoken of as a single entity and referred to collectively.

Examples

• A group of Boys – A blush of boys

• A group of Tigers – An ambush of tigers

• A group of cubs – A pack