Collective noun.Collective nouns are words that refer to groups of people or things: “orchestra” is a single word that names many people a pride of lions or “handful” of pins similarly is one word representing many individual things. In standard American English, collective nouns are singular and agree with singular verbs The orchestra is playing The pride of lions sleeps under a tree A handful of pins sticks in your palm In standard British Englishsuch words are often plural: The orchestra are playing.” Some collective nouns can be either plural or singular, depending on how they are used in a sentence A number of lions are sleeping under a tree The number of lions sleeping under the tree is small See agreement and standard English.
