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Hello .Is this sentence correct?”A herd of giraffes lives on the manor”if yes, why does ”live” have ”s”?Is herd a singular noun ?

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AussieInBg profile picture AussieInBgJune 2021

”Herd” here forms what is called a ”collective noun” - a noun describing a group of individual people, animals or objects. Almost always in American English, collective nouns are used in 3rd person singular (one important exception is ”police”, it’s ”’the police are here’, not ’’the police is here).

In British English, collective nouns usually use the 3rd person plural form. So, ”A herd of giraffes live on the manor” is the primary correct form in British English and is by far the most common. The singular form ”A herd of giraffes lives on the manor” does get used in British English but only to emphasise the singular entity of ”herd” verses individual giraffes.

Vsevuskav profile picture VsevuskavJune 2021
Yes, you are correct. Generally, ”herd” is a singular noun. (Some people use it as a plural noun, which is also correct, but you don’t need to learn that yet.) Since ”herd” is the subject of this sentence and it is singular, we add ”s” to ”live”.
  • AussieInBg profile picture AussieInBgJune 2021
    This would be the case in American English and sometimes in Australian English. British English differs here from American English usage.

    It often gets talked about early in language learning - expressions like ”the police are coming” confuse the heck out of language learners.