Some collectives are well known to English speakers such as ‘A herd of cows’ or ‘bunch of keys’, but they are often used in games too, particularly with young ones, trying to guess the Collective Noun of an obscure animal! The important thing is not to sound ‘wrong’. Now, you may be thinking this is ridiculous and just about impossible! If EVERY noun in English has a different collective how can ANYONE learn them all? And you are absolutely right, YOU CAN’T! Most collective nouns started with hunting animals and birds and, as the language evolved, spread to just about anything!
It dates back to medieval England and France when hunting amongst the nobility was an important pass time.
Put simply, this is a way of describing a group of something. As a native English speaker I can only imagine the problems collective nouns cause to learners!
