Collective nouns, even when written in the singular form, refer to a group consisting of more than one thing. These nouns are abstract terms that refer to groups of several concrete objects, such as people, animals and things. These nouns do not have rules and their use and are required to be memorised how they are colloquially and correctly used.
Examples of collective nouns used for people
A crowd of people
A class of students
A gang of thieves
A panel of experts
A team of players
Examples of collective nouns used for animals
A flock of birds
A hive of bees
A pack of wolves
A school of fish
A pride of lions
Examples of collective nouns used for things
A bouquet of flowers
A fleet of ships
A forest of trees
A galaxy of stars
A range of mountains
Recommended Read
Ilse Depraetere & Chad Langford, Advanced English Grammar: A Linguistic Approach. Bloomsbury Academic, 2019. See the book
