Question

Identify the collective noun(s) from the following sentence:
There was a fleet of ships in the sea.
(a)ships
(b)fleet
(c)sea
(d)fleet, ships

Answer 1

Hint: Collective nouns are used to denote a collection of other nouns. They try to include all the parts of a specific object into a singular term. There is only one option that matches this description.

Complete answer:
A noun is a naming word, that is it is the most basic form of language. It is used to name things/objects/people/places. So, to understand words, nouns are very important. A collective noun is a collection of things taken as a whole, as in multiple parts make one whole. For example, the word ‘murder’ is used to describe a group of crows.

Now let’s have a look at our available options one by one:
(a)ships - The word ‘ships’ refers to ‘large water-crafts that travel the world's oceans', so this word can be described as a plural common noun. This is not a collective noun. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
(b)fleet - The word ‘fleet’ refers to a group of ships sailing together, engaged in the same activity, or under the same ownership', so this word can be described as a collection of things. This is a collective noun. This is the required answer. So, this is the correct option.
(c)sea - The word ‘sea’ refers to ‘, so this word can be described as a common noun. This is not a collective noun. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
(d)fleet, ships - These two words are different in number, one is singular while one is plural. However, the collective noun is only the first one. The second term is a part of that first term. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.

Note: One common error that arises from using collective nouns is subject-verb disagreement: writers often become confused about whether to treat a collective noun as singular or plural. While collective nouns are mostly treated as singular, there are exceptions. Some collective nouns like everyone, everybody, no one, and nobody is always singular.