Grammar Lesson 9-24-13 - Collective Nouns

Collective Nouns 
Examples:
1. class                  9. student body
2. school               10. pack
3. family               11. committee
4. legislature         12. audience
5. troop                 13. troupe
6. army                 14. company
7. navy                 15. orchestra
8.  faculty             16. band
                             17. team

The noun-number:
Is the noun singular or plural?
*  Pronouns + subject must coordinate
*  e.g.  Matthew(subject) wave their(pronoun) hand. - INCORRECT ("Matthew" is singular while "their" is plural.)
Matthew waves his hand. - CORRECT (Pronoun and subject coordinate.  Both are singular.)
Question:  Is the subject "orchestra" singular or plural when used in this example?  The orchestra performed its concert. 
Answer:  "orchestra" is singular because the orchestra is playing in unison.
Note:  To make the orchestra plural, you must make the pronoun plural.  The orchestra performed their individual solos during the concert.  When the subject works separately as individuals, then it becomes plural.
Another example is:  The cast played their roles.  "Cast" is plural because each member in the cast is working individually (not in unison).


FORMAT FOR THE VOCAB TEST ON 9-25-13

Verb:  Include 2 definitions (must be infinitive) and 1 sentence.
Nouns + Adjectives: 1.  Spellcheck.  2.  Choose either 4 synonyms, 2 definitions, or 1 definition AND 2 synonyms.  3.  Include 1 sentence with correct punctuation and capital letters (or no credit).