Collective Nouns / Group Nouns Nouns | Abstract Nouns | Common Nouns | Compound Nouns | Concrete Nouns Countable / Uncountable Nouns | Gerund Nouns | Predicate Nouns | Proper Nouns

A collective noun is a noun that is singular in form but refers to a group of people or things.

Sometimes they refer to a group of specific things:-

For example:-

Tables, chairs, cupboards etc. are grouped under the collective noun furniture. Plates, saucers, cups and bowls are grouped under the collective noun crockery.

These collective nouns are often uncountable.

Sometimes they are more general:-

For example:-

Groups of people - army, audience, band, choir, class, committee, crew, family, gang, jury, orchestra, police, staff, team, trio

Groups of animals - colony, flock, herd, pack, pod, school, swarm

Groups of things - bunch, bundle, clump, pair, set, stack

When such a group is considered as a single unit, the collective noun is used with a singular verb and singular pronouns.

For example - The committee has reached its decision.

But when the focus is on the individual members of the group, British English uses a plural verb and plural pronouns.

For example - "The committee have been arguing all morning." This is the same as saying "The people in the committe have been ...."

A determiner in front of a singular collective noun is always singular: this committee , never these committee (but of course when the collective noun is pluralized, it takes a plural determiner: these committees ).

Common Nouns Nouns | Abstract Nouns | Collective Nouns | Compound Nouns | Concrete Nouns Countable / Uncountable Nouns | Gerund Nouns | Predicate Nouns | Proper Nouns

A common noun is a word that names people, places, things, or ideas. They are not the names of a single person, place or thing.

A common noun begins with a lowercase letter unless it is at the beginning of a sentence.

For example:-

People:-

man, girl, boy, mother, father, child, person, teacher, student

Animals:-

cat, dog, fish, ant, snake

Things:-

book, table, chair, phone

Places:-

school, city, building, shop

Ideas:-

love, hate, idea, pride

Compound Nouns Nouns | Abstract Nouns | Collective Nouns | Common Nouns | Concrete Nouns Countable / Uncountable Nouns | Gerund Nouns | Predicate Nouns | Proper Nouns

A compound noun is a noun that is made up of two or more words. Most compound nouns in English are formed by nouns modified by other nouns or adjectives.

For example:

The words tooth and paste are each nouns in their own right, but if you join them together they form a new word - toothpaste.

The word black is an adjective and board is a noun, but if you join them together they form a new word - blackboard.

In both these example the first word modifies or describes the second word, telling us what kind of object or person it is, or what its purpose is. And the second part identifies the object or person in question.

Compound nouns can also be formed using the following combinations of words:-

Noun	+	Noun	toothpaste
Adjective	+	Noun	monthly ticket
Verb	+	Noun	swimming pool
Preposition	+	Noun	underground
Noun	+	Verb	haircut
Noun	+	Preposition	hanger on
Adjective	+	Verb	dry-cleaning
Preposition	+	Verb	output

The two parts may be written in a number of ways:-

1. Sometimes the two words are joined together. Example: tooth + paste = toothpaste | bed + room = bedroom

2. Sometimes they are joined using a hyphen. Example: check-in

3. Sometimes they appear as two separate words. Example: full moon

There's a list of lots of compound words here.

A good dictionary will tell you how you should write each compound noun.