Today we’ll be talking about collective nouns. I already wrote an article about collective nouns some time ago, so make sure to check it out.
As you know, collective nouns are usually used with singular verbs because we treat the whole entity as a whole, especially in American English. But there are several collective nouns that are always plurals and in this article we’ll be talking about some of the most used of them.
Table of Contents
people
The noun PEOPLE is normally used in plural:
The people are walking down the street.
Some people are carrying cameras.
Nowadays people tend to hurry everywhere.
Sometimes, though, if we mean a group of people who make up a race, tribe or nation, we use the noun with singular. Then it has a separate plural form, PEOPLES.
The Samburu are a semi-nomadic people of north-central Kenya.
This is one of the peoples of Africa.
police
The noun POLICE is always plural.
Police patrol the streets of the city.
Who are the police looking for?
cattle
The noun CATTLE is plural too.
Our cattle are grazing in the jungle.
Cattle are raised everywhere in this country.
Our cattle have access to water all year round.
poultry
POULTRY is the collective noun for birds such as chickens and ducks. It’s used with plural forms of the verb.
Poultry are kept in a special building.
Our poultry have everything they need to stay healthy.
vermin
Our last example is the noun VERMIN, which is the collective noun for small animals like fleas or mice that are sometimes harmful to plants or other animals and that are difficult to get rid of.
The following year the vermin were back.
Vermin are dangerous carriers of diseases.
