集体名词是指一组个人的名词，如团队、委员会、陪审团、小组、管弦乐队、人群、观众和家庭。它也被称为群名词。在美国英语中，集合名词通常采用单数动词形式。集体名词可由单数和复数代词代替，具体取决于其含义。

实例和意见

在以下示例中，集合名词以斜体列出。

• “家庭是大自然的杰作之一。”

"Nouns such as committee, family, government, jury, and squad take a singular verb or pronoun when thought of as a single unit, but a plural verb or pronoun when thought of as a collection of individuals:

• 委员会一致通过了这些计划。
• 委员会在喝茶时吃饼干。

"It is possible for singular collective nouns to be followed either by a singular or a plural verb form (see number):

• 观众对这场演出很满意。
• 观众们对表演很满意。

彩色集合名词

“许多非计数名词都有一个等价的可数表达式，使用诸如“块”或“位”（部分或集合名词），后跟“of”：

• 运气：一种运气
• 草：一片草
• 面包：一条面包

性病名词

性病名词：一个名词，表示作为一个单位的人或物的集合，通过文字游戏来定义它们

“大众”名词

集体名词的概念可以追溯到几个世纪以前。威廉·科比特在1818年指出：

"Nouns of number, or multitudes, such as Mob, Parliament, Rabble, House of Commons, Regiment, Court of King's Bench, Den of Thieves, and the like, may have Pronouns agreeing with them either in the singular or in the plural number; for we may, for instance, say of the House of Commons, 'They refused to hear evidence against Castlereagh when Mr. Maddox accused him of having sold a seat'; or, 'It refused to hear evidence.' But, we must be uniform in our use of the Pronoun in this respect. We must not, in the same sentence, and applicable to the same noun, use the singular in one part of the sentence and the plural in another part....There are persons who pretend to make very nice distinctions as to the cases when these nouns of multitude ought to take the singular, and when they ought to take the plural, Pronoun; but these distinctions are too nice to be of any real use. The rule is this; that nouns of multitude may take either the singular or the plural, Pronoun; but not both in the same sentence."

集合名词较轻的一面

集体名词也能给任何书面作品增添幽默感。

"[C]ollective-noun inventing is a game that continues today. The aim is to find a word which puns on the meaning of the plural entity. Here are 21 of the best from my own collection:

• 没有侍者
• 一群皮肤科医生
• 痛苦的阿姨们的肩膀
• 一群理发师
• 汽车修理工
• 一大桶大臣
• 一系列估计
• 手机的烦恼
• 很多拍卖商
• 一群养蜂人
• 一群赌徒
• 精神病学家的综合体
• 唱诗班的烦躁不安
• 一群牧师
• 青少年的不满
• 娼妓
• 软件崩溃
• 天气预报员的沮丧
• 一派胡言

"Everyone loves to play with language. The ways of doing so have no order and no end."

（大卫·克里斯托，《不择手段：寻找英语的旅程》，俯瞰出版社，2008年）

来源

• 《英语语法系列：供学校和一般年轻人使用，特别是供士兵、水手、学徒和耕耘男孩使用》。1818
• 克里斯托，大卫。剑桥英语百科全书。剑桥大学出版社，2003年
• 马什，大卫，卫报风格。卫报图书，2007年。