Choose the sentences in which the collective noun is used correctly:
(A) The children’s ball rolled into a brood of thorny bushes behind the school wall.
(B) A dark bank of clouds rose over the sea just before the storm reached Puri.
(C) A long column of ants carried grains of sugar across the kitchen floor.
(D) All the furniture in our new classroom was made by a carpenter from Saharanpur.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → (B), (C) and (D) only
(A) The children’s ball rolled into a brood of thorny bushes behind the school wall. — Incorrect.
- Brood is used for a group of young birds hatched at one time.
- Bushes growing close together are a thicket.
- Correct form: The children’s ball rolled into a thicket of thorny bushes behind the school wall.
(B) A dark bank of clouds rose over the sea just before the storm reached Puri. — Correct.
- A bank of clouds is a large, thick mass of clouds.
(C) A long column of ants carried grains of sugar across the kitchen floor. — Correct.
- A column is a long line of people, animals or vehicles moving one behind another.
(D) All the furniture in our new classroom was made by a carpenter from Saharanpur. — Correct.
- Furniture is a collective noun for things such as chairs, tables and beds.
- It takes a singular verb, as in “the furniture was”, and it never takes -s.