Owls are usually found singly or in pairs rather than in large groups. One that doesn’t seem to fit is a parliament of owls. Even an unkindness of ravens was originally related to their supposed habit of turfing chicks out of nests. Sue says many traditional collective nouns incorporate a characteristic of the animal’s behaviour, such as a pride of lions or a cloud of gnats. “But the way mob is used by indigenous groups for themselves is peculiar to Australia.” “A mob is an untidy collection, whereas a pack is much more orderly,” Sue says. Dingoes became a pack of wild dogs, and one term that we like to think is Australian, a mob of kangaroos (also applied to sheep and cattle), is used elsewhere in the world for other groups of animals. Rather than Australians developing their own collective nouns, they just applied conventional terms to the new area and new groups of animals, says Sue Butler, editor of the Macquarie Dictionary. “By and large they’re falling out of use.” Best collective nouns “Young squires and knights wanting to learn hunting had to learn a whole range of terms, such as a brace of deer or grouse,” he says. Roly Sussex, Emeritus Professor of Applied Language studies at the University of Queensland, says they were used by those wishing to boost their social status. Many of these were for groups of animals, and some are still in use today, such as a gaggle of geese. The members of the jury were allowed to go home to their families each day.The book about ‘gentlemen’s interests’ became popular, and the terms widely accepted as correct English.The members of the family are each doing a separate chore.In cases such as those, when you are unsure of whether to use a singular or plural verb, you can add "members of" before the collective noun, and then use a plural verb because "members" is plural. The plural verbs in the second set of examples may sound odd to some native speakers. A litter of kittens have been running around the shelter making messes.
The jury were allowed to go home to their families each day.The couple are taking separate cars to work today.The family are each doing a different chore.Use a plural verb when the members of the group are acting as individuals. A litter of kittens was born in the shelter.The family is driving across the country this summer.Use a singular verb when the members of the group are acting together as a unit. A collective noun is a name for a group of people or things such as "family," "class," "pack," "bouquet," "pair," and "flock." Collective nouns usually take a singular verb, because they are singular in construction, but they sometimes take a plural verb.
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