Collective nouns
Posted By: Zville MT on 2008-10-03
In Reply to: why? please explain ....sm - cj
A collective noun names a group as a unit or a group as individuals, either common or proper, such as faculty, audience, herd, flock, etc. These are words describing groups - you wouldn't say 'The audiences loved the play.' You would say 'The audience loved the play.' as you are referring to a group of individuals.
In the case of units, if the sentence had read '1 unit', that would be singular and 'was given' would be correct because you're only talking about one thing - a singular unit. Because you add an 's' to the end of unit to make it plural, it is not a collective noun, therefore does not refer to a group and your typical plural rules apply - meaning 'were given' would be correct because you're talking about more than one unit. This actually comes from my son's Basic English Revisited - A Student Handbook 2nd grade, published in 2007. For medical terms and such, BOS is great, but as far as grammar goes - not helpful.
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Proper nouns get capitalized...sm
I know, I know, they all have their opinion; but as far as I know, the correct way is if they don't say the "Proper" name of the area then it is just a common noun, which does not get capitalized.
Ex:
St. Mary's Emergency Room
The emergency Room
West Central Ear, Nose, and Throat Clinic
Referred to an ear, nose, and throat clinic.
The account specifics might say different.
Here's one for you:
When you are typing your resume, and you want to say you have experience in clinic notes, do we capitalize Clinic Notes? I'm seeing it both ways. I would say "no" but want to make sure.
TIA!
I agree with capitalizing proper nouns only. sm
That is the proper way in the English language. Unfortunately, that may not be what BOS recommends. :(
changing verbs to suit nouns
I do, I do !!!
MQ has lost their collective minds!
2 cents for a check?? What in the world is up with those goomers? They must be smoking some chronic over there in New Jersey...
collective work and responsibility?
thats insane
You are misunderstanding what a collective noun is.
"Some nouns refer to a group but are singular in form. These nouns are called collective nouns. In American usage, a collective noun takes a singular verb when it refers to the collection considered as a whole."
Your problem is you are not understanding what a collective noun is. A collective nouns are a special class of nouns that name groups [things] composed of members [usually people]. Example: Team, class, Army, etc.
Twenty units of Pitocin were given. --- Still correct because units is not a collective noun. If "unit" meant a group of units, then you be correct. However, unit is singular and units means more than one unit.
BOS2, pg. 180, don't hyphenate fractions written out and used as nouns, so correct w/o the hypen
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