[Lexicog] Noun categorization in English

Margaret Marks margaret.marks at GMAIL.COM
Fri Jun 16 09:02:16 UTC 2006


> A herd of elephants tramples the grass.
> That flock of chickens is being sold next week.
>
> PMJI but I am a native speaker of British English and I would treat these
> the same as any groups. My preference for the elephants would be plural,
> although singular would be possible. As for the chickens, I would choose
> singular, since the wording (which I find a bit odd - I would have said
> 'those chickens', but that wouldn't correspond to your query!) seems to
> imply the whole flock will be sold as one.
>





Margaret Marks
info at margaret-marks.com
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