Question

Choose the collective noun(s) from the following sentence.
All the students in the class remained silent.
a. class, students
b. students
c. class
d. None

Answer 1

Hint: A collective noun is a noun which denotes a group of things together. Some examples of collective nouns are a bunch of keys, a herd of cattle, a pack of lions, etc.

Complete answer: The common noun here is “students”. The collective noun used for students in class. When we have to refer to a group of students, we say “a class of students”. Therefore, the collective noun in the given sentence is class. The correct answer is option c, class.
Another example is ‘players in the team’. The collective noun in this case is team because the collective noun for players is written as ‘a team of players’.
Option a is wrong because only class is the collective noun. ‘Students’ is a common noun. Since option a consists of both the words class and students, it is a wrong option.
Option b is only students. Students is a common noun. We have to find out the collective noun of this common noun itself. Therefore, option b is also wrong. Example of sentences with the word ‘students’ is, the students were punished for not completing their homework.
Option d is wrong because it says ‘None’. This has been given to mainly confuse the students.

Note: Collective nouns are not always in the form of ‘a ____ of something’. It is possible that the collective noun comes after the common noun like in the given sentence.