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Collective Nouns in English: How to talk about groups of people and things
Do you want to speak more fluent English? Learn to usecollective nouns – special words we use to talk about groups of people, animals, or objects. This is an important English vocabulary lesson because a lot of these words will not make sense logically to you unless you know the meaning in this context already! Some of the collective nouns I’ll teach you include: a batch of cookies, a deck of cards, a litter of kittens, an army of caterpillars, and more! Watch this video before the rhinos get me!
Quiz
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Test your understanding of the English lesson by answering these questions. You will get the answers and your score at the end of the quiz.Levels
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202 COMMENTS
10/10 ☺ . Great lesson,alex. You are doing an excellent job. Thanks a lot!
You’re welcome, Anne! Thanks a lot for studying with me.
You’re awesome Alex, thank you so much.
My pleasure, Gabriel. Thanks for studying with me.
I like how you speak because I can understand you ^_^! thanks for the lesson
It’s my pleasure. Thanks a lot for studying with EngVid!
“A murder of lawyers” is very interesting,maybe a lot of lawyers should be murdered. (Just kidding.
Well, that is…too dark for me. :) Plus, there are cool fictional lawyers! Like Matt Murdock aka Daredevil.
Thank you very much Alex for the English lesson!
You’re very welcome! I hope you enjoyed it.
Good morning Alex. Thank you for this wonderful lesson. Now I am abless to improve my vocabulary. I got 10/10 in this quiz. Thank you once again ☺☺
Nice job on the quiz! Don’t stop studying. :) You can do it.
hi my name is am from Egypt and i hope to Be friends
Great class, I really enjoyed it!
I’m glad to hear that! And I love your avatar. :)
Thanks a lot, Alex !
Any time. Thanks for clicking.
10/10 :D I remind the Japanese song “Medaka no Gakko” (A school of killifish). Interesting! Thank you, Alex :)
Haha. Nice. I’ve never heard of that song. Maybe I can find it on YouTube.
Very useful alex, thank you :)
You’re totally welcome, tidiosky!
hello MR alex it’s a good topic you offered us,i like your choice of topic,and your explanation is simple and clarified, i almost always get 10 in the quiz because of it,and i like also your funny manner. i have a question ‘is every word related to the other? for exemple: we only use ‘panel’ with ‘judges’ and we cannot use it with ‘teachers’ for exemple and so one for the others?. don’t be afraid of the crash of rhinos,i will be with you against them.great thanks for you alex.
Some of the words can be moved around. “A panel of teachers” sounds fine too, but I wouldn’t say “an army of flowers,” for example. :)
Ufff….a wealth of new information. I think I´ll watch this video more times to make sure I learn all the vocabulary properly.
Thank you for the video Alex!And for all the examples you gave us to remember the new words.
No problem! I’m glad you liked it. I hope the information wasn’t too overwhelming.
thanks Mr.Alex for this rare lesson, it contains a wealth of vocabularies, i like your joke about lawlayer and lier.
Thanks! I’m glad you had a good time with the video.
by the way, i’ve played an online english game called “Fast english” , i’ve tried my best to enter the list of the firsts, but i’ve got a score of 13.000 , so i’ve failled to achieve my goal, i guess that the persons who’ve entred this list have cheated, beacause i guesse it’s impossible to get a score of 20.000, what i mean i dont know if it’s a probleme of my english weakness or it’s a question of cheating, if any one has played this game, he can whrite his score here to dicover the realite about how possible to get 20.000 is.
the URl is “www gamestolearnenglish.com/fast-english/”
the content that i’ve played qnd got 13.000 is called “food 1”.
==> all of you are welcome (-_^)
16100 =P. Funnt game =)
*funny
wow great, interesting,thanks Remacha you’ve given me an idea, you need almost just 2500 to be one of the firstes list,try again,did you play by laptop or by tablet?
how did you feel about the possibility to achieve a socre of 20.000 ?
I got 14,600 on my first try. My eyes aren’t fast enough. Haha. Fun game! I’ll have to recommend this to students.
Well done, I got 8 correct out of 10 by the way why you threw batch of cookies at the end of lecture.
There was a crash of rhinos chasing me.
Thank you for giving me a wealth of information. Take care!!!
You’re welcome! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
just I wanna say thank you so much Mr Alex.It,s really useful lesson thank you again . bey
You’re welcome! Thanks for studying with me.
Thank you, for this very interesting and useful lesson.
My pleasure. I’m glad you liked it.
Thank you for the lesson!
I like some comments here)
Dear Engvid, may be we should make a like button under the coments?)
a murder of lawyers
you have a good point
???
We’ll see! I like the idea.
Useful lesson Alex, I’ve never heard about them, now I can get it. Thanks! 10 out of 10
Nice job! You killed it!
2/10!!! Why can’t I stay awake in class? :))
Keep trying!
Thank you Alex! Interesting lesson.
Ouestion: How should I call a group of policemen? Is there a collective noun?
Hi Lazaros. It’s a SQUAD of policemen. Bye!
Thank you for answering my question Julio!!
You’re welcome, Lazaros. It was a pleasure for me.
Squad works. You can also just say “a bunch of police officers.”
Thank you Adam! You are a great teacher!:)
Very very useful vocabulary, Alex. Thank you so much!
As always, I’m glad you found it useful, Julio. :) I hope you have a good holiday season.
Thank you very much, Alex. I also wish you and your family a wonderful holiday season.
Thank Alex the class is very interesting
Thanks a lot for checking it out!
Thank you Alex
You’re welcome. Thanks for checking out the lesson.
Hello Alex , hello everyone ,
10/10 this my score . Thank you Alex , this lesson made me search in the dictionary because words you used can have different meanings . I haven’t seen that “crash” ,for example , has so different meanings . It can be used to talk about fight too . Is a lesson about the many different ways one can touch another possible? Wether can it be to do harm , congratulate , give pleasure or stimulate etc…
.thank in advance .
See you
Hmm, it’s an interesting idea, but it would have to be a little more specific. I’m not sure I fully understand what you’re asking.
I keep swinging my hand through a SWARM OF BEES
because I want honey on my table.
I keep swinging my hand through a SWARM OF BEES
I can’t understand why they’re stinging me.
Thank you Alex, you made me reflect on the richness of English vocabulary.
BEES!
the women who wes crying remaind me by a funny moment, it’s carries me back to one day when i was in class of algebra (2nd year of univ), a cat sneak into the amphi and got between girl legs while she was stunned by the lesson, and when she saw it she began suddenly crying,in the other hand, the whole classe began lauphing.
This is truly the best.
really you are great my devoted teacher :) ..
Thanks for your feedback, idoo!
Thanks Alex this lwsson was great.. I learned new words.. :)
That was the idea behind the lesson. I’m glad you enjoyed it too!
Thanks Alex. I really enjoyed this lesson and your way of teaching. This lesson has a wealth of information :)
Thanks a lot! :) I had a fun time making this too.
Thank you Alex~^^
It was very good video~
“It was a very good video.” You’re very welcome, vicky. :) Thank you so much for studying with me!
THANK YOU ALEX , IT WAS VERY USEFUL AND GAVE ME A WEALTH OF INFORMATIONS .
“A wealth of information.” :) “Information” is a non-count noun and doesn’t end with an “s.”
You’re welcome, and thanks for studying with me!
Thank you, Alex.
It was very useful lesson for me.
Yay! I’m glad to hear that, Tetyana!
It’s really wonderful and useful lessons
I GOT 70/100— USEFULL LESSON!! this is my skype: felipemal2016 !!! let´s improve our english!!!
Nice job! I hope you find someone to speak English with. :)
Thank you for the great lesson and i have one question please , what about the word ¨fleet ¨ i know it means a group of ships but can it be used to describe any other group of things ?
Hi Elie! It’s generally for ships or other vehicles. You can refer to “a naval fleet,” “an air force fleet,” “a fleet of cars,” or even “a fleet of alien spaceships.” :) I hope this helps!
THANK YOU
Thank you ALEX.
This lesson was Great lesson,Useful lesson,Also interesting lesson and Awesome Video!
Nice! I’m glad you liked it, Abdul!
Thanks for the lessons my first time here, good didatic.
Welcome to EngVid, Fernando! I’m glad you enjoyed the video!
Oops! I meant to say “jibru89.” :) Fernando commented after you.
Great Lesson Alex… To be honest I forget this lesson even in my native language :D. Anyway, thank you. You always teach good lessons. I really enjoy it.
Haha. Don’t worry about it. Many native English speakers forget the more advanced ones too.
You such a fantastic teacher Alex. Thanks You and greetings from Mexico.
You’re very welcome. I’m glad you’re enjoying the lessons!
You know, Alex … I really hope we can watch a crash of white rhinos run for a while, but I’m not sure about that in the near future. Thank you so much for the video lesson.
Ha. We will see. :) Thankfully, I got away in time.
Thank you Alex so much! Your classes are so fun.
I want to thank you for teaching us this vocabulary. I didn’t know that these words even exist. Also, the example of the lion king was perfect, I know because it was one of may favourite movies of my childhood(Original version, so you will know my age…), and I rembemer the SNES game, the last level was called “pride rock”. Now I know why.
Have a nice week!
That’s awesome! I never played The Lion King on the SNES. I did play Aladdin on the Genesis, though. That game had amazing graphics for a 16-bit title.
Alex, that was wonderful.
Thank you for saying so! :) I’m glad you enjoyed the lesson.
Thank you so much
It was my pleasure. :) Thanks for studying with me.
hi Alex youre videos dont play for me.
I’m sorry to hear that! Have you tried using different browsers? It’s also possible that YouTube may be blocked in your area.
Thanks for your lesson. I got 10
Nice work! Keep it up.
very clear, thank you!
You’re very welcome. Thanks for checking out my videos.
Thanks my dear teacher I got many things from you. I learned more.
That’s fantastic! Thanks for studying with me.
Very helpfull, I will always remember “a murder of crows” and “a school of fish” :)
They’re very easy to remember because they’re so distinct. That’s great!
Thank you!! :)
You’re welcome. :)
“A murder of of lawyers entered the courtroom”- it’s a new phrase, isn’t it? I didn’t find this expression in dictionary.
It’s not a common phrase, but it does exist! :)
thank you
You’re very welcome.
10/10 thank you Alex, that was very clear lesson, now I can use those nouns in my conversation with others ?
That’s the right idea!
Mr. Alex , sorry for asking but you have skipped my comment above and replied to all other commentators , have i asked a wrong question ?
Not at all. The commenting system is weird sometimes, and some comments just take longer to appear than others. I’ve now seen your comment and responded above.
yeah , i have read it , thanks alot
sorry to interfer but like you have seen, mr alex don’t mean to skippe your lesson, and he reply on all his commentators as you see without exception, honesly he is the best teacher in engVid and because i admire him i say that.ارجو ان تفهمني شكرا
Sure , he is a great teacher .
your lesson always very easy to understand and useful for me, Alex. Thank you!
Any time. Thank you for studying with me!
hello my teacher alex, i haven’t a question but i have a suggestion, may be it is not your responsibility, but if you like my idea,i would you to work on it if it is possible. iam wondering if it is possible to integrate a software in this website we can know through it the percentage of someone of covering the lessons of this site and his level even only in this site and so one.ijust would to reply me about your opinion in this idea and if it is possible. thank you alex.
It’s a good idea, and the only thing I can say on this subject at the moment is…stay tuned. :)
Collective Nouns 100% Thank you Alex.
You’re welcome. Nice job on the quiz score!
And how about horses? Is it a herd ? and how about elephants is it also crash?
Yes, it’s a “herd” of horses and also elephants.
Hi Alex, when we refer to elephants: “A crash of elephants” (in specific) or “A pride” because -I don´t know- they´re animals so very proudly. I think that it´s of agreement with a context or an animal behaivor. So just in a fiction I would say: “A crash of chicks” …
Sorry I did mean: “animal behavior”
“A herd of elephants” is the most commonly recognized collective noun. The less common one is “a memory of elephants,” but you should only memorize that for trivia nights with friends because no one on the street will know it. Haha.
I watched this video today on my 20th birthday
Happy birthday! That’s pretty cool. Haha.
Thank you! :) Haha.
thanks a lot Allex,you’ve made a very useful lesson,that I’ve never known except “bouquet”.
is it olright to say,pack of mouse or pack of guinea pigs?
“Pack” is pretty general, so you can certainly say it. Feel free to just use generic quantity expressions like “a bunch of,” “a lot of,” etcetera as well. The official collective noun for mice is a little weird and not common at all. It’s “a mischief of mice.” Don’t worry at all about memorizing it because no English speaker on the street will know what you’re talking about. Haha.
Very useful class. Congratulations.
Thanks! I appreciate your feedback, and I’m glad you found it useful!
Hello, I am In intermediate level of English language and in only 7-8 months I should give IELTS exams or IGCSE , Can you please help me?
Hi Donyx, I don’t do private lessons at the moment, but we have a lot of useful free videos on IELTS preparation on this website. Check out Emma’s videos in particular.
Thank you Alex for good lesson^^
You’re very welcome!
Thanks Alex for this excelent lesson… You are a great teacher and so fanny. You could be a comedian actor.
10/10. Very, very happy! Thank’s Alex!!!!
Thank you, Alex. It’s interesting and funny simultaneously )) I wonder what etimology of some words like “murder”
Alex hiya. I m crash on your lessons . I wannted to asked if it would be possible on your videos to be put english subtitles. .by this way and in combination of your amazing teaching It would be incredibly useful and our lerning will be immproving higly fast. And i m sure your subscriber will be incresed considerably. Please think about it
Thank you very much Alex, it was very useful, funny and really different..
Thank you so much Teacher Alex !!!
you are the best
It’s a great lesson.thank you!
I have 9/10 that is a great score, I am so happy for that. I want to say you thank you for learning me and other people english through
Thank you sir. Your lessons are very helpful. I’ve got 10 on 10.
difficult!I couldn’t watch the video. 3/10.so sorry. thanks.
A bouquet of flowers to your, Alex, for good teaching!
I tried again . 7/10 !
Howdy Alex!
Thanks for the funny lesson. It is rather difficult to remember all these collectives, but little by little we can memorise them.
By the way, I hope that crash of bad rhinos have not devoured all your delicious cookies. Ha-ha!
All the best!
Hi everyone!
I would like to practise my English with a foreign student on Skype. If you are interested, let me know please.
Take care!
Alex, thank you very much for your brilliant lesson. I know that there are two collective nouns for a group of fish: a school of fish and a shoal of fish. Is there any difference in their usage?
I know that for whales one should say ‘a school of whales’. But what’s, for example, for herrings? ‘A shoal of herrings’ or ‘a school of herrings’?
I thought it was a jar of herring! :P
Thank you Alex! :-) This lesson is excellent! You are a very good teacher!
thank you Alex! very nice and useful lesson!
Nice, My brother! It is very useful!
Nice lesson Alex!!! thank you so much.
by the way I love your sense of humor
Nice explication Alex, your lessons are very easy to understand. Thanks for all.
Such a worthwhile lesson! You explained it in a very entertaining way Alex! Cool
It is a very useful lesson for me.
Thank you very much!
These lessons are very helpful, thanks you have a new subscriber and student. :)
Thanks Alex for this lesson!
I’ve known that a parliament of owls was in favor of a murder of crows.
Hello Mr.Alex
i really like to see your lessons, now i learned new words.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH
You’re my fave, Alex. Keep it up! Thanks for making all of your lessons entertaining and easier to understand.?
Thank You Alex 10/10 :)
Ofcourse 10/10 After such thorolly explation from Alex. Thanks a lot!
thanks, this really help me to improve mi vocabulary :)
Thanks for this lesson Alex. You are the guy!
I can believe it !
I got 9 correct out of 10.
:)
I think this lesson is too difficult for me and I thought I can’t answer to any of them
Thank you
Thank you for a great lesson!
Thanks Alex
10/10 Ahahahah… Very amusing!! I’ll test it with my nephew in London ;-)
Very interesting, creative and funny! Thank you, teacher!
I love your videos, thanks Alex for your knowledge.
10/10 I did my homework :D
Great lesson….Thanks alex
Thank you Alex !
Great lesson! Thanks! ;-)
Perfect score, thanks Alex.
Thanks a lot for this content!
collective nouns 100% great Mr ALEX
I noticed many people use many information instead of a wealth of information,which is better?
one mistake
Thank you very much Alex.
That class was super funny (specially at the end..)Many words to remember ;)
You’re awesome Alex! Thanks for your amazing classes
It’s a lot of vocabulary to learn and remember. So as always I must try to use it very often to store it in my brain. Thank you so much for this nex excellent lesson
Thanks very much Mr. Alex, I got 10/10 on collective nouns test thanks to you, the video was really interesting
Alex! There’s a crush of rhinos! sounds funny.
It was a great topic and you helped me to grasp the information with those examples. Thank you very much!!!
I’ve got 10/10 love this quiz!
As always quite grateful for your lesson dear Alex aka John Ritter from Toronto lol lol lol lol