Quizzes & Puzzles4 mins ago
Collective Nouns
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I'm trying to explain to a non English speaker the term "only children" the plural of "only child", would I be correct in saying it's a collective noun?
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.You would not use the word "only", in this context. The phrase "only child " is used to mean a person only has one child, you would then say "the children" to mean a person has several children. "Child" is a singular noun, whereas "children" is a plural noun.
As Dannyk13 says a collective noun refers to ,a group, You might say "a class of children", or "a gang of children". In that case "class" and "gang" are the collective nouns. Hope this makes it clearer.
As Dannyk13 says a collective noun refers to ,a group, You might say "a class of children", or "a gang of children". In that case "class" and "gang" are the collective nouns. Hope this makes it clearer.
The sentence "Only children are not always selfish" is a misleading sentence to use as an example because it can have more than one meaning. It could imply adults are always selfish, for example, because it is solely [only] children who are not.
Sheep is another word where adding an S for plural is incorrect, it is both singular and plural. "I saw a sheep in one field and 12 sheep in the adjoining field".
These minor quirks are what makes the English language so rich, but also difficult to learn. Some cases have to be learnt individually, not by a hard and fast rule (its and it's for example).
Here's a little rhyme for your pupil :-
I take it you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and dough?
Others may stumble, but not you
On hiccough, thorough, slough, and through.
Well done and now you wish, perhaps
To learn of less familiar traps?
Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard, and sounds like bird.
And dead: it's said like bed, not bead;
For goodness' sake, don't call it deed!
Watch out for meat and great and threat,
(They rhyme with suite and straight and debt.)
A moth is not a moth in mother
Nor both in bother, broth in brother.
And here is not a match for there,
Nor dear and fear, for bear and pear.
And then there's dose and rose and lose
Just look them up - and goose and choose.
And cork and work and card and ward
And font and front and word and sword
And do and go, then thwart and cart –
Come, come! I've hardly made a start.
A dreadful language? Why man alive!
I’d mastered it when I was five !
And yet to write it, the more I try,
I’ll not learn how ‘til the day I die.
Sheep is another word where adding an S for plural is incorrect, it is both singular and plural. "I saw a sheep in one field and 12 sheep in the adjoining field".
These minor quirks are what makes the English language so rich, but also difficult to learn. Some cases have to be learnt individually, not by a hard and fast rule (its and it's for example).
Here's a little rhyme for your pupil :-
I take it you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and dough?
Others may stumble, but not you
On hiccough, thorough, slough, and through.
Well done and now you wish, perhaps
To learn of less familiar traps?
Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard, and sounds like bird.
And dead: it's said like bed, not bead;
For goodness' sake, don't call it deed!
Watch out for meat and great and threat,
(They rhyme with suite and straight and debt.)
A moth is not a moth in mother
Nor both in bother, broth in brother.
And here is not a match for there,
Nor dear and fear, for bear and pear.
And then there's dose and rose and lose
Just look them up - and goose and choose.
And cork and work and card and ward
And font and front and word and sword
And do and go, then thwart and cart –
Come, come! I've hardly made a start.
A dreadful language? Why man alive!
I’d mastered it when I was five !
And yet to write it, the more I try,
I’ll not learn how ‘til the day I die.
I agree, only here is just an adjective, also agree with Canary, that sentence has more than one meaning:
Children without siblings are not always selfish
or
However children (ie all children) are not always selfish
Whatever only here is not a collective nouns as mentioned one could say
I saw a herd of cows
I swam with a school of fish
I fed a gaggles of geese
I played with only children?? err no
Children without siblings are not always selfish
or
However children (ie all children) are not always selfish
Whatever only here is not a collective nouns as mentioned one could say
I saw a herd of cows
I swam with a school of fish
I fed a gaggles of geese
I played with only children?? err no
I must admit that I'm struggling to see why this is confusing, or even hard to understand.
Child A - "I'm an only child."
Child B - "So am I".
Child C - "Me too! So we're all only children - what are the odds?"
Child is a noun. Its plural is children. The plural form is irregular in that it is not formed by adding an 's' to the noun - is that what's causing the confusion?
Substitute "fast" for "only" and "runner" for "child" in the above example - that's all there is to it.
Child A - "I'm an only child."
Child B - "So am I".
Child C - "Me too! So we're all only children - what are the odds?"
Child is a noun. Its plural is children. The plural form is irregular in that it is not formed by adding an 's' to the noun - is that what's causing the confusion?
Substitute "fast" for "only" and "runner" for "child" in the above example - that's all there is to it.