collective nouns & common nouns???

Question

i have been asked to identify the 'collective nouns' & 'common nouns' is the following sentence:

a flock of geese in a garden

i know that 'garden' is a common noun

is "flock of geese" the collective noun?
or "flock" the collective noun?

if "flock" is the collective noun, does that mean "geese" is a common noun?

Answer 1

geese, garden are common nouns
flock is a collective noun.

Answer 2

Collective Noun For Geese

Answer 3

A collective noun is one that represents many but grammatically requires a singular verb (in American English):

"That band plays my favorite song"

A band is a group of musicians. However, the required verb is singular.

It's true that both "flock" and "geese" represent more than one.

But think about the verb used with each:

The geese is in the garden or The geese are in the garden?


The flock is in the garden or The flock are in the garden?

Geese is easy: it's common. It almost hurts to hear that the geese "is" in the garden!

However (again, only in American English), the word "flock" requires a singular verb.

Answer 4

is "flock of geese" the collective noun? ***no, that's a phrase.
or "flock" the collective noun? *** yes, you got it

if "flock" is the collective noun, does that mean "geese" is a common noun? *** yes. plural, but common

Note that collective nouns are singular. "A flock is flying." One difference between American English and British English is that our British cousins make plurals out of things we use as singular. We generally make elliptical elisions out of sports teams. Thus we might say about the Cowboys "Dallas is having a good year." However the Brits would say, "Dallas are having a good year." For us the concept of a team is grammatically singular- a collective noun; for our cousins (separated by a common language) a team is a group of individuals, that collectively takes a plural verb.

Answer 5

It is a collective noun - A Crowd - so treat as singular

Answer 6

its flock.... coz its grouping them... i.e. class or club