Practice: Collective, Uncountable and Other Confusing Nouns

Collective Nouns

For each of the following words, select singular in front of the word if it is normally singular, plural if it is normally plural or SP if it can go either way in roughly equal proportions depending on the phrase in which it appears. For help with this topic, see Chapter 10 of Working With Words, 9e.

Question 10.21

1. association

A.
B.
C.

1 of 33

Question 10.22

2. commission

A.
B.
C.

2 of 33

Question 10.23

3. committee

A.
B.
C.

3 of 33

Question 10.24

4. corporation

A.
B.
C.

4 of 33

Question 10.25

5. council

A.
B.
C.

5 of 33

Question 10.26

6. couple

A.
B.
C.

6 of 33

Question 10.27

7. faculty

A.
B.
C.

7 of 33

Question 10.28

8. few

A.
B.
C.

8 of 33

Question 10.29

9. jury

A.
B.
C.

9 of 33

Question 10.30

10. little

A.
B.
C.

10 of 33

Question 10.31

11. most

A.
B.
C.

11 of 33

Question 10.32

12. number

A.
B.
C.

12 of 33

Question 10.33

13. panel

A.
B.
C.

13 of 33

Question 10.34

14. percent

A.
B.
C.

14 of 33

Question 10.35

15. remainder

A.
B.
C.

15 of 33

Question 10.36

16. several

A.
B.
C.

16 of 33

Question 10.37

17. total

A.
B.
C.

17 of 33

Uncountable Nouns

For each of the following, select singular if the word is always singular, plural always plural or SP if it can be either one depending on the context. For help with this topic, see Chapter 10 of Working With Words, 9e.

Question 10.38

18. athletics

A.
B.
C.

18 of 33

Question 10.39

19. ethics

A.
B.
C.

19 of 33

Question 10.40

20. mathematics

A.
B.
C.

20 of 33

Question 10.41

21. measles

A.
B.
C.

21 of 33

Question 10.42

22. mumps

A.
B.
C.

22 of 33

Question 10.43

23. news

A.
B.
C.

23 of 33

Question 10.44

24. pliers

A.
B.
C.

24 of 33

Question 10.45

25. politics

A.
B.
C.

25 of 33

Question 10.46

26. scissors

A.
B.
C.

26 of 33

Other Confusing Nouns

For each of the following, select singular in front of the word if it is always singular, plural if it is always plural or SP if it can be either one depending on the context. For help with this topic, see Chapter 10 of Working With Words, 9e.

Question 10.47

27. alumni

A.
B.
C.

27 of 33

Question 10.48

28. bacteria

A.
B.
C.

28 of 33

Question 10.49

29. criteria

A.
B.
C.

29 of 33

Question 10.50

30. data

A.
B.
C.

30 of 33

Question 10.51

31. media

A.
B.
C.

31 of 33

Question 10.52

32. oxen

A.
B.
C.

32 of 33

Question 10.53

33. phenomenon

A.
B.
C.

33 of 33