In the previous Column, I gave quite a long list of collective nouns.

In this list, if I have used bracketing (e.g., a group (of people)), this means that the group noun can easily be used by itself:

There is the group.
（その一団がいる）
We have a large class.
（私たちのクラスは大きい）
The band played very well.
（その楽団の演奏は非常にうまかった）
That gang caused a lot of trouble.
（その一味は大くのトラブルを引き起こした）

When there is no bracketing, this means that the collective noun is usually followed by another noun, which gives us more information about the collective noun:

a gaggle of schoolgirls
a troupe of acrobats
a band of robbers

Thus, one cannot readily say, "There is a dangerous band in town". One would have to say, "There is a dangerous band of robbers in town". However, it would be all right to say, "There is a dangerous gang in town".

The asterisks are used to show those expressions in which the collocation is very tight. For example, "a group (of people)" is not marked by an asterisk. This tells us that this expression is a loose collocation. In fact, there are hundreds of nouns we could use instead of "people".

On the other hand, the only "conclave" we can have is "of cardinals"; the only "coven" we can have is "of witches" (excluding jokes and humorous uses). These are therefore tight collocations.

In the next Column, I will mainly discuss whether collective nouns are singular or plural, or both.

Since these nouns are both singular (i.e., a family is one unit) and plural (i.e., there are several individuals in a family) at the same time, their grammar can be a little bit tricky. Here I will list up some grammar points about collective nouns:

1. Collective nouns can be treated as either singular or plural. The singular use suggests unity, etc:

The family was united.
（その家族は一つになった）

The plural use suggests individuality or separateness:

The family were always fighting each other.
（その家族はお互いに争いが絶えない）

2. Nevertheless, American English tends to favour singular usage, and British English tends to favour plural usage.

3. Collective nouns can themselves become plural:

There were five families living in the village.
（その村には10家族が住んでいる）

4. If we want to talk about one of the people who are "within" the collective noun, we can almost always say "a member of the A":

Peter is a member of our family.
（ピーターは我が家の一員だ）

5. (4) above does not apply to "enemy" (× a member of the enemy). We would probably say "one of the enemy".

6. "Enemy" is also a bit different from the other collective nouns since it can refer to one person:

He is my enemy.
（彼は私の敵だ）

7. Collective nouns must not be confused with uncountable nouns like "bread", "furniture", "information", etc. Note that we can say "a family" but not × "a bread".

In Column 031 I will discuss collective nouns used when we talk about groups of animals.

In Columns 028, 029 and 030, I wrote about collective nouns that are used for groups of people.

The English language has dozens and dozens of collective nouns that are used to refer to groups of animals. The nouns not only vary with the types of animals, but also sometimes vary depending on how many animals there are, how old they are, where they are (e.g., birds on the ground, or in the air), whether or not they are moving, and so on.

I have given a reasonably basic list below, with the items nearer the top of the list being the ones which seem to be more commonly used:

a herd of cattle/buffalo/bison/antelope(s)/zebra(s)
a school of fish/porpoises/whales
a pack of dogs/wolves/hounds
a flock of sheep/geese
a litter of kittens/puppies
a pod of dolphins/porpoises/whales
a pride of lions
an army of ants
a colony of seals/sea lions
a flight of birds
a gaggle of geese
a band of gorillas
a tribe of baboons
a troop of monkeys

Naturally, it is perfectly correct not to use these words, and one can say "I see a lot of monkeys/a group of monkeys", and so on. However, it is nice to know the "proper" collective nouns.

We seem to read a lot about whales and dolphins these days, such as when they beach themselves. In this case one often comes across references to "a pod", usually made by scientists or other kinds of dolphin and whale experts.

The other day, one of my students said to me that it is "strange" that the same words are used for making wh-questions (who, which, whose, when, where: "Who is she?", "Who is John?", "Which country do you like best?", "When did she arrive?", "What do you want to eat?", etc.) and also used in declarative sentences like this:

She is the woman who I love.
John is the man whose pen I borrowed.
Germany is the country which I Iike best.
She arrived when there was little time left.
I want to eat what you want to eat.

But if you think about it, this is not strange at all. When we make a wh-question, we are, at the most general and basic level, asking someone to give us some information about a person, place, time, etc. For example:

Who is she? = Give me some information about her.
When did she arrive? = Give me some information about the time of her arrival.
What do you want to eat? = Give me some information about the kind of food you want to eat.

Thus, in the question form, "wh-" means "give me the information about X". Likewise, in an ordinary declarative sentence, "wh-" means "this is the information about X", as in:

She/woman/I love: She is the woman who I love.
Germany/country/I like best: Germany is the country which I like best.
She/arrived/little time left: She arrived when there was little time left.

"Give me the information about X" and "this is the information about X" are two sides of the same coin. It is therefore only natural that we use the wh-words in both cases.