Collective Nouns in a sentence

[Shabreena]

Hello,

What would be the correct way of expressing a collective noun in a stentence please?

I am considering the example like this 'All those stunning huge deepwater water fish (collective noun) were displayed here with an open surface.

Is this right?

Thanks

[Carlos Brazil]

Hi Shabreena!
JUst testing forum.
I'm from Brazil and my English is too slow yet.

Have a good day EVERYONE!

Carlos Brazil

[Alan]

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Hi,

In your example the verb can be plural because 'fish' like the word 'sheep' is the same both in the singular and the plural. With collective nouns like for example -'audience' 'crowd' 'family' and so on, the following verb can be either singular or plural. It really depends on whether you consider the underlying meaning in the collective noun is a singular entity or it is made up of separate parts.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Are you a Persuader?

[Shabreena]

Thanks Alan,

From what you've described, should I be re-writing like this? 'All those stunning huge deepwater water fishes (collective noun) were displayed here with an open surface'. I meant to say fish in plural form.

I can't quite get the sentence properly. Please help.

[Alan]

Hi,

As I said, 'fish' can be used for the plural and so the 'es' isn't needed.

This sentence is fine: All those stunning huge deep-water water fish (collective noun) were displayed here ...

Alan
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English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Everything in the Garden is lovely