Collective Nouns / English Addict 41 / Live Lesson / Wed 19th Feb 2020 / single/plural/group

mmm oh look there is some colour I can see some colour in my garden can you see

the beautiful pink flowers coming out oh I must be honest that has really cheered

me up today do you know why because the weather around here at the moment has

been terrible in fact my local area was actually on the national news yesterday

I will explain more about that later on here we go again it's another English

addict live from the birthplace of the English language which is England

it is nice to be here with you again hi everybody this is mr. Duncan in England

how are you today are you okay I hope so are you happy I really hope so here we

are again oh my goodness I can't begin to tell you how weird everything has

been around here during the past few days weather-wise we have had so much

rain and can you believe it we have even more rain on the way there is yet

another storm on the way so we had storm Dennis we had storm Kiera and this

weekend we have storm Ellen Ellen is on her way so yet another storm will be

battering the UK over the next couple of days I can't believe it

we've had so much rain in this area around the area where I live we have had

so much rain one of the main rivers in this area

called the River Severn has actually flooded it has become so swollen the

water has gone over the edge as you can see in this photograph here

so here it is yesterday this is a place that I visited many plant many times in

my live streams this is Ironbridge not very far away from where I live and at

the moment the main river has swollen so much it has overflowed and caused a lot

of flooding here's another picture so these pictures were taken yesterday not

by me but by the local news reporter and you can see that the the water

really gone everywhere so it's not just the river it is now parts of the land

that are now underwater as well so the river has swollen if something swells it

becomes swollen it is much larger than it should be and there you can see one

of the views from yesterday and of course for those who are familiar with

iron bridge you will know that it is named after the famous iron bridge and

there once again you can see how high the water is at the moment in iron

bridge it's terrible in fact so the national news yesterday

was talking all about this because the river is flowing not only along but also

over the edges because there is so much water we've had a lot of rain and you

might see in the distance you can see some blue it looks like blue a line of

blue that's the best way to describe it and if we have a closer look you can see

that these are actually the special flood defences so these are things that

are put in place to keep the water from going right over the edge and into the

houses so we will go back to the previous photograph so you can see there

the flood defences so that blue line that you can see is actually the flood

defense that is actually stopping the water from flowing right over the edge

and into the buildings so that blue line is preventing the water from going any

further so there it is the view yesterday and iron bridge right here in

Shropshire was all over the TV news last night because we've had so much

rain so much water has been flowing everywhere including the local town

where I live is well in my local town Much Wenlock or also there have been

some serious floods as well so it's all been going on welcome everyone I hope

where you are you are nice and dry yes we have made it once again to the end

well midweek the end of the week is just

around the corner but now it's midweek yes it is Wednesday

can I also say a very big special hello to my new viewers watching in yet damn

unless say a big hello to all of my new subscribers around the world and also in

Vietnam can I also say a big hello to another English teacher right here on

YouTube now this is something I do don't do very often so the reason that I'm

doing this is a special reason because I'm actually mentioning another YouTube

teacher right now Alex D a big hello to alex d and also

all of your lovely students watching in vietnam as well thank you very much for

your mention of my youtube video mine now famous viral lesson 1 which is being

watched quite often and a lot in Vietnam so hello - Alex D you are doing a

fantastic job there in Vietnam teaching English to all of your lovely students

and hello to everyone watching in Vietnam as well we also have the live

chat up and running hello to the live chat nice to see you here as well

I wonder who was first on today's livestream let's have a look shall we

it looks as if Vitas oh hello Vitesse guess what you are first on today's live chat

very good congratulations

I've just realised I haven't put my microphone up and very sorry once again

well that was stupid wasn't it it was my microphone closed all that time I think

I might just go back to bed you know we're talking about plural things today

things that are more than one and I thought I would show you one of my

lessons where I talk all about plural words and how to use them and a little

bit later on we are going to look at some other plurals as well

hi everybody this is mr. Duncan in England how are you today are you ok I

hope so are you happy I hope so

in today's lesson we are going to take a look at the way in which words change

depending on the number or amount of things being talked about or described

in this one lesson we are going to talk about the often confusing and sometimes

mistaken rules of English plural the word plural simply refers to a quantity

of more than one for one thing we say singular a single thing is 1 of course

there are some exceptions to the rule of plural in English for example some words

have no plural this normally occurs with objects but now I'm getting ahead of

myself so let's take a look at each plural rule

individually one by one a plural is normally used with nouns

describing the number or quantity of something totaling more than one in a

sentence is plural there are six children playing in the garden there

were seven leaders at the conference you will notice that besides the use of

numbers there is also a change in the spelling of the nouns so even if we

quantify the amount with a number the noun will still change in one way or

another so the plural does not need to be expressed with a number for objects

we usually add an S to the end of the word so one book becomes books one cup

becomes cups one carrot becomes carrots the way in which some nouns change

depends on whether or not we class them as being countable some nouns are not

countable this means that the spelling remains the same whether the object is

singular or plural as a general rule countable things are individual a single

thing or item is countable each thing can be identified and counted as it

appears so it is countable an egg is countable one egg five eggs the S is

added to show that there is more than one we can say eggs to show the amount

without a number a basket of eggs there are many countable nouns in fact there

are thousands of them so I will take a closer look at some of the uncountable

nouns instead tea and coffee in their basic forms are uncountable sugar is

uncountable if it is being measured or stored however all of these items can be

counted if they are being served out if tea or coffee is in a cup and is being

served as a drink then they can be counted

can I have three teas and four coffees please

the same applies to sugar if sugar is being served it can be counted we can

ask how many sugars do you want in your tea however when milk is being served it

is not countable how much milk do you take in your coffee this is because

liquid is always uncountable milk and water is uncountable

so is petrol and diesel even the steam produced by boiling water is uncountable

other uncountable things include gas and air although gas can be counted if we

are talking about different types of gas at the same time the

Earth's atmosphere is made up of many gases some animals are uncountable there

are some nouns which change almost completely when used in plural a goose

becomes geese a man becomes men a mouse becomes mice a tooth becomes teeth

octopus becomes octopi cactus becomes cacti if we are generally talking about

more than one thing then there are many ways of expressing it this of course

depends on how many things there are one thing is easy it is one the one item we

generally describe two things as a pair for example a pair of curtains anything

above two and we tend to use terms such as some I need some milk I must buy some

wine I need to get some petrol you will notice that the nouns are all

uncountable the most common quantities tend to

involve uncountable nouns of course there are exceptions I need some

batteries from my radio I must buy some carrots and potatoes next week there are

other ways of expressing quantity Bert we will save that for another lesson

do you ever have one of those days do you ever have one of those days where

nothing goes right guess what I'm having one of those today

sorry about the lack of sound it was my fault now can I let you in on a little

secret normally in front of me I have the live

stream playing and quite often I will put the subtitles on the screen because

you can actually get captions you can if you press this letter on your keyboard

you can actually get captions there it is suppress that on your keyboard and

you can get captions so normally I have the captions working and then I can

check to make sure that the sound is going out because if there are captions

then I know that you can hear me however today I didn't have the captions working

so I didn't notice that there was no sound coming from my microphone for

which I apologize I don't know how long there was no sound however here is the

email that I received thank you very much to Robert for your email my name is

Robert and I have recently started working on an ESL channel I think your

content and personality are great I am doing my best to start putting out good

content on a regular basis and the biggest thing I'm struggling with is

marketing I guess any advice on how to get it out there would be greatly

appreciated

so as I was trying to say earlier when my microphone was not working is that

well first of all I'm asked about my work a lot I'll be honest with you how

do you get your viewers how do you put your videos out there to be honest with

you over the past 14 years I haven't really paid to be seen on YouTube so

everything that happens has happened organically it has happened naturally

without any persuasion or marketing and I suppose these days because there are

so many people now on YouTube doing all sorts of things and many of those things

are similar to each other for example there are lots of people nowadays on

YouTube talking about movies reviewing movies talking about the latest movie

for example you have red letter media red letter media are a very popular

YouTube channel it is popular on YouTube a group of people sit around talking

about movies and that's it but they do it in a fun way and there are many

others as well doing the same thing just like English teaching there are many

people now on YouTube doing English lessons producing English lessons many

of them are doing it in a similar way standing in front of a whiteboard

pointing at words on a whiteboard however since I started teaching English

on YouTube I have always done it in a different way from everyone else

everyone else does it one way I do it a different way however over the years

there are people now who are doing it similar to me quite a few of them doing

it more successfully than me however they are still doing what I originally

did so that's it really are my advice to anyone starting a you

Tube channel or starting to do something is to use your own voice use your own

personality don't try to copy other people sometimes it's good to be

original to do things originally to do things in a unique way something that

other people are not doing but I know over the years that there are a lot of

people copying what I do now in the same way which is which is okay I have no

problem with that so there you go that's all I'm saying

but as far as marketing is concerned do something that's unique do something

that catches people's eye maybe you can do something in a fun way maybe you can

make some video lessons about certain subjects and do it in a vivid and fun

way so there are many ways of doing this I hope that is helpful can I say hello

once again to the live chat because I did have a problem earlier with my

microphone for which I apologize I hope you can see me now so thank you very

much to Guadalupe hello hi Lee Kwang I've been also recommended by Alex Dee

since last August thank you very much fat isn't it strange

a lot of people now watching from Vietnam and well to be honest with you

I've always had a lot of viewers in Vietnam it's always been the case

but at the moment there is a youtuber teaching English called Alex D and I

have looked at his channel and it's very good he does some very good stuff on

there using Vietnamese and also English and he shows lots of things concerning

his day-to-day life which is very interesting

Belarusian says no you have a nice voice mr. Duncan you are unique

when I say voice I don't mean the sound of your voice I mean the way you

express yourself so the word voice can be used in more than one way it can be

the sound of your voice but also it can it can be the way you express yourself

so a person's voice is not always about the sound of their speech it can also be

the way they express themselves as well such as an author so certain people

write in a certain way we call it their voice their way of expressing themselves

and we all have different voices different ways of expressing ourselves

the words you use the tone of your voice the subject matter so all of these

things all come together to form your voice so the way you express yourself so

when I say voice in that sense I'm not talking about the sound of your voice

but the way you express yourself so that is what I mean by that

thank you very much I've also had a couple of emails this week asking if I

can give Skype lessons personally to them now at the moment I don't do Skype

lessons I haven't done Skype lessons ever ever I've taught in class I've

taught in schools and and and of course I've taught here on YouTube for free so

normally I don't give Skype lessons for two reasons one I like to give my

lessons away for free to as many people as possible and also these days I don't

have much time to be honest even today I was rushing around doing lots of

different things and I was late again did you notice I was also late today

once again sorry about that Lin Ching says I have watched your video

lessons several years ago from a friend in China oh hello to you Lin

Cheng Lin Chang Zhang thank you very much for watching me isn't that lovely

Alan Gere says people want to see your clips because they are good and unique

you have to do it on the daily basis for as long as you can

yes I suppose so the other thing about doing YouTube is having the motivation

to do it all the time and that that's one of the big things so I have seen

over the years many people come along many people start teaching English on

YouTube but they can't keep doing it they run out of steam they run out of

energy they only do it for a few months and then they slowly fade away because

they can't keep doing it you have to have the motivation to do it you have to

be willing to put all of your energy into it so that's another thing worth

mentioning quite often doing something for a long

period of time over many weeks months or even years like me it can take a lot of

effort and sometimes you might feel like giving up you might feel like quitting

my advice there is don't don't quit don't give up you never know what's

around the corner something nice might be waiting for you hello van you knew

you win hello mr. Duncan I would like to say thank you a lot from Vietnam you are

welcome no problem that's the reason why I am here to help you with your English

so we are talking about a lot of things today by the way if you are wondering

when you can catch me Sunday Wednesday Friday 2:00 p.m. UK time so you can

catch me here on YouTube 3

times a week three times a week Guadalupe says I love this channel I

love this man and I love the interaction with the classmates mr. Duncan is so

kind to answer our comments well I try to I try to answer everyone's comments

but sometimes I don't have time to do every one unfortunately Pedro was here

but now Pedro has gone Pedro Belmont was here but now he's gone

where I don't know

Tao dang says by the way how can you

motivate yourself well I suppose if we are talking about anything whether it is

doing something or learning something you always need some motivation and

quite often the most powerful form of motivation comes from you self

motivation is from my point of view the best form of motivation so you might

hear other people give you words of encouragement but to be honest with you

the best form of motivation comes from yourself self motivation and I think

that is the hardest part of doing anything so sometimes I think how did I

manage to do this for 14 years and to be honest with you I suppose self

motivation is the reason why I've managed to do this for so many years I

think it is without so self motivation if you don't believe in yourself if you

don't have self motivation then quite often it is hard to do anything for a

long period of time Federica is here also Luis

oh hello Luis Mendez thank you for coming on today on Wednesday it is a

very strange time of the week I always think Wednesday because you have

things that you've done already but you still have lots of things that you have

to do in the future so Wednesday is always a very strange day as far as I'm

concerned we are talking about plural today plural when we talk about plural

we are talking about more than one thing so quite often plural is something that

means more than one more than one thing so that's something we are talking about

a little bit later on another thing that I want to mention and I think this is

something worth mentioning if you don't mind me mentioning it well I will

mention it anyway the word cynical now I think these days

many people have become quite cynical they are doubtful they tend to criticize

or over criticize things around them and this is something that I mentioned a few

moments ago about YouTube there are many people on YouTube complaining or

attacking various things that exist around us and these things can be maybe

criticized too much perhaps people can be too cynical so if someone is cynical

we describe them as a cynic cynic so in this particular sense we are using it as

a noun cynical is the adjective so a cynical person they are being a cynic

they are showing cynicism cynicism is the noun that describes the action of

being cynical and I suppose also the way in which you do it as well as an adverb

you do it cynically so I think these days a lot of people have become very

cynical very doubtful they are constantly attacking the things around

them and quite often unfairly as well what do you think do you think that the

world has become cynical do you think because of the way things are going in

the world people trust each other less and less especially people in

authority so what do you think do you think we have become more cynical maybe

as you get older and this is something that I would probably agree with I think

as you get older you quite often become cynical I think so so something to

mention today if you want to mention it if you want to talk about it you are

more than welcome to do so don't forget there is also there is also a website

now with all of my video lessons and yesterday I was busily working on my

website and now there is some interactive buttons that you can press

to hear my voice and this is something I will be adding over the next few days so

you will notice that there will be some interactive buttons on my new website

and these are things that you can interact with you can actually click the

buttons and listen to my voice explaining things

so there is my website so many things to talk about today hello to hung Anne yes

finding motivation can be very difficult whatever it is and I think one of the

hardest things to do is to start something new so if you are about to

start something new from the very beginning I think that is when you need

the most motivation just to begin doing the thing that you want to do I think so

hello black gotcha hello to you nice to see you back again

young Glee now I always watch your videos as well as my as my as well as my

girlfriend oh so young and his girlfriend watch my

videos I hope we can improve our abilities to speak English and

understand others and what they mean well I hope my lessons will be helpful I

hope they will help you with your English Studies

Phung is here it is now late at night here in Vietnam so everyone has free

time to learn from your lessons now I think the best time to learn anything is

well first of all in the morning if you have a chance or time in the morning to

learn something I think that's a good time because your brain is fresh and

active after a good night's sleep and also in the evening when you are in a

relaxed state so when you are feeling relaxed and comfortable that is also a

good time to learn so if it is evening then yes it is a good time to learn I

agree with you hello just variation the people with the blue names are the

administrators they are actually the people who will look at the live chat

and make sure everything is okay so they are here to moderate so the

people with the blue names are moderators hello Cory

hello also Rosana nice to see so many people here today

Alan Gere says I read self-help books a very big thing at the moment a lot of

people are using self-help books to give them motivation to give them

encouragement and also to give them knowledge about the thing they are

planning to do so yes I agree with you Alamgir I am reading one called

how to stop worrying and start living by Dale Carnegie it is a good book so quite

often self-help books are useful however

however self-help books only help if you are willing to help yourself so the book

is only giving you the encouragement but to be honest with you all the motivation

and all hard work still relies on you so self-help books are not a quick

solution because quite often they will still tell you that you need motivation

you need your own self belief to do the things you want to do so I suppose

that's the most yes I would say that's the hardest thing to do the hardest

thing to do when you are doing anything is to believe in what it is you are

doing to be motivated and to have self belief marina said it is very good to

hear to see your website and also hear your voice yes this is something that

I'm adding to my website over the next few days I started doing it yesterday so

you will see on my website there are some things you can click to hear my

voice and also you can see my video lessons as

well on the playlists so we are talking about plural today when we say plural we

are talking about more than one thing the plural of something or maybe more

than one or a group so when we talk about plural we are saying more than one

or a group a collection maybe or a gathering so you might have a lot of

things in the room you might walk around in the countryside and see lots of

things in one place maybe a certain type of animal which is something we are

going to talk about later on maybe a quantity of something so more than one

thing a quantity quantity I like that word by the way

a collection of things so maybe there is more than one thing there is a

collection of things we can have single and plural so in English grammar quite

often we will focus on whether something is single or plural that is to say one

thing or many things quite often we are talking about the same things so maybe a

lot of things that are together but they are all similar or identical single

plural and this is the thing we are going to talk about today collective

nouns in English just like many other languages there are certain nouns or

certain ways of describing collecting collective nouns so a collective noun is

something that describes a group of things when we talk about collective

nouns we might think of animals a very common one and on the internet you might

find lots of lists of collective nouns some of them are accurate however some

of them are not accurate so I thought today I would talk about

collective nouns so let's have a look at a brief example let's have a look at

something that is common oh there we go an animal a wolf so when we talk about a

wolf we are talking about one animal one specific animal a wolf however if we are

talking about a group or more than one we will say a pack of wolves so the

collective noun is pack pack so one wolf a pack of wolves so in this sense the

word pack is describing the collective noun for the group more than one there

is a group of wolves one wolf a pack of wolves there are more of them there are

a group another one now I wonder if you will get some of these right you might

get these right you might not so let's have a look

Oh be a little buzzing bee flying around you on a nice warm summer's day maybe

you are in your garden eating a cake and you are trying to enjoy your snack

however there is a bee nearby and then suddenly there are lots

and lots of bees buzzing around you being very annoying so a group of bees

the collective noun that we use when we are talking about a lot of bees is swarm

I like that one swarm so one bee many bees a swarm of

bees so in this sense the collective now is swarm swarm quite often we will use

the word swarm to describe a group of insects in one place maybe you might say

a swarm of wasps as well swarm a swarm of ladybirds talking of insects here's

another one an ant so we have one and one ant walking around on its own maybe

it has got lost but suddenly it notices in the distance there are lots and lots

of ants coming towards it so an ant will see ahead of it lots and lots of ants a

group of ants as a collective now is

or me ah okay then not swarm you don't say swarm of ants

you say an army of ants isn't that strange

so the collective noun here is army an army of ants army and of course the

single workers are often called soldiers so there are soldier ants of I suppose

so interesting how this works so an army of ants is a large group of em so the

next time you see a lot of ants in your garden you can say oh look there is an

army of ants that collective now so mo says what are you learning here at b and

ant well some oh we are talking about

collective nouns for example a cow there you are walking along the field you are

walking through the meadow and suddenly you look ahead of you and there is a cow

eating the grass having a chew on the grass but then when you go around the

corner you see more cows you see lots of cows you see hundreds of cows and they

are walking around the field looking very happy we can say a herd of cows

herd so we can say a herd of cows a large group of cows is a herd so as you

can see here the collectible now the collective noun is heard a herd of cows

a large group of cows Noemi says I think an army of

ants is perfect because they are like warriors they are so they March together

you will often see ants marching together like an army have you ever been

on a holiday where you've visited I don't know maybe you've gone on a boat

into the ocean and suddenly you see a dolphin a lovely dolphin next to your

boat swimming in the water maybe if you are lucky enough it might come right up

to the boat but then suddenly suddenly from nowhere there are lots of dolphins

a group of dolphins appear we call a group of dolphins I wonder if anyone

knows what a group of dolphins is called do you know what a group of dolphins is

cool do you can also have a herd of cattle yes well the word herd can also

meet be a noun and also a verb so the group is a herd but also if you are

moving the animals along the field we say that you are herding them so herd h

er d can be used as a noun and also a verb as well a group of dolphins is pod

a group of dolphins in the sea swimming together is pod so we say a pod of

dolphins a group of dolphins the plural of dolphins pod so a part of

dolphins were swimming next to my boat

pod oh and by the way these are all from the Oxford English Dictionary just in

case anyone wishes to disagree here's another one

Oh sheep what about sheep you know I love sheep I live in an area where there

are many many sheep all around so what about sheep

what do you think do we say a group of sheep do we say a herd of sheep what do

we say how do we describe a group of sheep in a field how we do how do we

describe it I will wait for a moment maybe I can have a little bit of music

sheep yes quite a few of you are getting it right sheep in the field walking

around sadly at the moment at the back of my house there aren't any sheep there

are no sheep at the back of the house at the moment what do you think what do you

think I've missed that cock I haven't seen that cock for such a long time

welcome back mr. cock nice to see you again so when we talk about a group of

sheep we say a flock of sheep so the word flock is the collective noun it is

describing the group so we say a flock of sheep a flock of sheep

so the Sheep will move around the field in a flock flock a flock of sheep Jean

bee says is it Armada an armada of sheep I think that ships I think you mean

ships as in boats so we say in Armada as a collection of boats going off the

Spanish Armada hello to mog mog hello mog mog I haven't seen you for a long

time nice to see you back here again mog mog

lovely to see you this is English addict we are coming up

to 3 o'clock on a Wednesday Wednesday the 19th of February we only have 29

days this month monkey maybe you go to the zoo to see the monkey and the monkey

is eating bananas and also throwing its poo at you but suddenly in the next cage

you notice that there are many monkeys but what about the group what do we call

the group of monkeys how do we describe them so one monkey is in the cage eating

its banana and throwing its poo at you

however in the next cage there are many monkeys lots of them but what do we call

a group of monkeys

Sean ferry says there are many cocks in my hometown there are many round here as

well quite a few cocks quite a few hens sometimes they wake me up in the morning

sheep the single word for sheep is sheep so sheep are actually single or

uncountable so we can say there are 20 sheep however the word itself remains

the same so you can have one sheep or a hundred sheep it is still sheep oh oh I

see very nice one or two people have either got it right or they've just been

they've just been to Wikipedia I wonder I think they've just been to Wikipedia

to me to be honest with you so a group of monkeys a large group I think a bunch

of monkeys seems like a good way of describing them you might be surprised

to find out that a group of monkeys is troop troop a group of monkeys is a

troop the collective now for a group of monkeys troop a troop of monkeys in the

cage or in the jungle eating bananas and throwing their poop around there are

some very interesting messages coming through today very interesting

hello - hello Ralphie thanks mr. Duncan for pointing that out

you are welcome I always think it's very important to know that if you are going

to the zoo make sure you stand far away from the

monkeys because sometimes they have some strange habits pigeon oh I love pigeons

very much I get lots of pigeons in my garden so when we say one pigeon well it

is a pigeon however maybe above your house you might see lots of pigeons

flying over your house so what do we call a group of pigeons that is flying

above your head a group of pigeons are flying overhead

what do we call a group of pigeons lots of pigeons do we say a flock of pigeons

flock interesting flock of pigeon a flock of pigeons but if there is a group

of pigeons going over your head flying through the sky what do we say what do

we say we say KITT mr. Duncan are you joking are you kidding so a group of

pigeons flying over your head they can be described as a kit of pigeons KITT

there is the word on your screen right now so a kit of pigeons we normally use

that word when the pigeons are flying in a group together so a group of flying

pigeons is called a kit kit general generally speaking yes we might say a

flock of birds generally so when we are talking

generally about the animal a flock of birds so that is general but if we are

being specific then we will say we will say KITT sure and says some people

believe that human beings come from monkeys through evolution well I think

it's pretty much been proved that that's the case to be honest I think it's

pretty much been proved that we are related to two monkeys or should I say

Apes oh I know a lot of people like dogs I know a lot of people like to buy a

little pet dog maybe a baby dog a baby dog is a pup so what do we call a group

of dogs that are very young so we say one pup but what about a group of pups

so maybe your your dog gives birth and maybe it has four or maybe five little

pups or puppies so we often say pup or puppy to mean a baby dog however what is

a group of pups called what do we call a group of pups a group of pups so your

dog has just given birth to what what has your dog given birth to so not one

pup but many many pups we say

what do we say that scared me then litter mr. Duncan is that true yes it's

true we say a litter of pups so a group of pups maybe your dog gives birth to a

group of pups some puppies have been born a litter of pups litter we can also

use the same thing with cats as well so a litter if you have a litter it means

you have many of the same thing a litter of pups litter I love that here's

another bird one of the most elegant birds that exists one of the most

beautiful birds that you can ever see one of the largest birds that exists

here in the UK often seen going along the water in the rivers around the UK

and maybe you might see them sometimes on the lakes as well the bird is a swan

beautiful animal I think the Swan is one of the most gracious and beautiful

animals there is so you might see one Swan on the lake but suddenly you see

many swans suddenly there are lots of swans coming along coming along the

river but what do we call a group of swans what do we say when we see a large

group of swans how do we describe a large group of swans

you might be surprised by this because this is one that not many people know

you might see one Swan what is a swan a swan is a beautiful elegant white bird

large and quite often you will see it on the water going along beautiful bird one

of the most elegant birds that exists here in the UK very nice

and did you know that all swans belong to the Queen

did you know did you know that all swans in the UK belong to the Queen

and if you kill a swan you can be sent to prison did you know that did you know

that if you kill a swan in the UK you can actually go to prison for it oh ok

then you can say a game of swans or a herd of swans so you can say game or

heard a game of swans a herd of swans isn't that strange I've never heard that

before even I didn't know that I had heard of

heard heard of swans but I hadn't heard a game of swans so a group of swans can

be called a game or heard incredible you will see swans quite often in the UK if

you go to a local park you might see some swans on the water going along

swans talking of birds oh ok then we have another one here yes all swans in

the UK belong to the Queen that is what I said and if you kill a swan you will

probably go to prison

goose goose do you have any geese where you are

so one goose and a group of geese however there is a way of describing a

group of geese when they are together do you know what it is do you know what the

description of a group of geese is there is a specific word that describes a

group of geese yes a Swan is a bird usually white but rarely black with a

very long neck yes that is the other way of spotting a Swan they have beautiful

elegant necks and they go along the river like that the other thing is if

you get too close to a swan they will spit at you it's true I'm not joking if

you get very close to a swan they will actually spit at you it's true so a

group of a group of geese so one goose many geese however there is a word that

describes the group is it gang is it a gang of geese I like that maybe it

should be gaggle we say a gaggle gaggle of geese

so a group of geese together a gaggle of geese so that is the

collective noun gaggle so a group of geese is a gaggle of geese

yes geese will bite and also swans as well yes they will give you a nasty peck

so they will Peck you and it can be quite painful fortunately I've never

been pecked by a swan or a geese or a goose dev Oh another one now so we have

another bird dove tan says a gaggle of geese a gaggle of geese giggle together

so the gaggle of geese are giggling because that's what they like to do

the marvelous lake of swans there is a famous ballet of course called Swan Lake

gaggle but what about d'oeuvre there is also a collective noun for dove but what

is it do you know what it is

do you know what a collective noun of d'oeuvre is so when we say the

collective noun we mean the word that describes the group the actual group a

dove but what about a group of depths what do we call them flight a flight of

doubles so I suppose when they are going over your house in a large group you

might say oh look there's a flight of duds a flight of dubs going over my

house so flight in this sense is used as the

collective noun for dubs dove

mr. Duncan can imitate the sounds of birds perfectly thank you very much

I suppose it's because I spend a lot of my time

near birds I think that might be the reason why fish another animal but what

is the collective noun of fish so we have one fish but what about a group

what about a large group of fish swimming through the sea what is the

word fish one fish but what is a group of fish called if you see lots of fish

together swimming through the water how do we describe them fish

what about many fish if you see many fish if you see lots of fish together

they are all grouped together for safety fish a group of fish but what is the

countable noun anna says the dove is also the white bird that can be the

symbol of peace that is true I think it has some biblical reference I think it

has some some reference to maybe one of the stories in the Bible I think does it

have something to do with Noah's Ark I think so I think so what is it then what

is it what is a group of fish what is the collective noun Sheol I have

a feeling you might have known this to be honest

jonbi says is it a can of fish maybe if you are in the supermarket doing your

shopping perhaps a group of fish swimming through

the sea shoal shoal a shoal of fish a group of fish shoal I will be going soon

by the way don't forget I am back with you when am i back oh I'm back on Friday

so you can catch me again on Friday at 2 p.m. UK time so that is the time I'm

always on at the same time 2 p.m. UK time is when I'm on for those who are

wondering when they can catch me

what about Fox one of my favorite animals especially around here because I

live in the countryside and quite often you will see foxes walking around in the

countryside however even even in areas such as cities there are many parts of

the city they have foxes living in them and they call them urban fox or urban

foxes but what is a group of foxes if you see a lot of foxes walking together

down your road maybe they are in the garden trying to catch your chickens

what to recall a group of foxes what do we call them a group of foxes one Fox

but what if there are many foxes in your garden so what do we call a group of

foxes one Fox I will do

time's up what is it a group of foxes is

skulk did you know that a skulk of foxes so when we say a group of foxes and we

don't we want to use a collective neuron a collective noun for a group of foxes

is skulk and there it is the word skulk a skulk of foxes very interesting does

anyone remember the story of the Fox and the three little pigs oh sorry kids I

don't remember the I don't remember the story of the Fox and the three little

kids I remember Little Red Riding Hood

do you remember Little Red Riding Hood she was visiting her grandma it's

actually quite a gruesome story it isn't a very nice story because at the end

everyone gets eaten by the Fox not very nice here's another one

kangaroo do you have many kangaroos where you live I have a feeling the

answer might be no kangaroo what do we call a group of kangaroos maybe you are

visiting your relatives in Australia and one day you are walking down the road

and a kangaroo goes hopping by I'm a kangaroo how do you do suddenly you see

lots of kangaroos coming towards you but I am

but I am but I am but I am but I mean but I mean but I mean but I mean but I

mean but I mean but I mean but I mean but what do we call a group of kangaroos

a large group of kangaroos coming towards you I'm sure it's never happened

to you ever this might be a very useless word oh that's interesting there are

actually two words so you can use two words to describe a group of kangaroos

we can say mob so you can have a mob of kangaroos or troop a troop of kangaroos

really has strange so a mob or troop of kangaroos is how you how you describe a

large group of kangaroos coming towards you many years ago they used to get

kangaroos to box each other they used to put boxing gloves on their

little hands and they would fight each other which is a bit cruel really isn't

it it's a little bit cruel tan Chang says Mr Duncan Little Red Riding Hood is

a very cruel story it is it's amazing actually how many children's stories or

fairy tales are actually quite scary have you noticed that oh here we go now

this is not an animal

what I say you say no a lady is not an animal no I can't say that I can't say

that a lady's an animal

I can't I can't say that I'm sorry if I say that a lady is an animal I will get

so many complaints I really were I'm sorry I'm not saying it a lady what do

we call a group of ladies so if there are many ladies in a room what do we

call a group of ladies so one lady but what if there are lots

of ladies don't you say anything lady is not an animal okay I suppose a

lady is a human being which is an animal yes I know okay okay

lady so a lady what do we say if there is a group of ladies all sitting

together having a cup of tea and eating their cakes and gossiping and gossiping

about each other lady but what about a group of ladies oh very interesting

a group of ladies is it flock no it isn't a flock of ladies and no it isn't

herd it's not a herd of ladies okay that's very cruel how dare you lady a

lady a group of ladies where's my cock gone a group of ladies this is true by

the way this is real bevy Oh

bevy a bevy of ladies a group of ladies is bevy did you know that so

you see lots of ladies sitting together maybe you go into a restaurant or cafe

and there are lots of ladies in there talking and chatting you can say that

there is a bevy a bevy of ladies isn't that interesting pivi

yeah no you can't say that look if I if you say that I will get all of the women

ganging up on me and Greta thumb burg will come round and she will poke me in

the eye how dare you exactly that's exactly what will happen we have all we

have one more and then I'm going so this is the last one for those who are

waiting to go to the toilet maybe you have been holding it in for the past

hour lion a beautiful animal very gracious very noble

it can also bite your leg off a lion what about a group of lions what do we

call a group of lions so if there is one line in the zoo sleeping and you reach

through the bars and you you poke you prod the lion and it wakes up very

angrily and then suddenly some more Lions will come from the next cage what

do we call a group of lions serene thank you very much for your thank you very

much for your answer thank you young Thank You Helen oh thank you very much

for your very interesting answers today

a bevy of ladies are having or is having a good time yes a pride of lions is

correct you are right yes so when we say a group of lions we say a pride of lions

a group of lions is pride so there is the collective noun for a group of lions

pride pride I wonder what the collective noun people is crowd

I think it's crowd isn't it so if there is one person in the street and suddenly

a lot of other people join them or join that person we can then see that there

is a crowd of people crowd a lot of people together

human beings grouped together crowd yes a pride of lions I hope you've enjoyed

that something slightly different as we come towards the end of today's

livestream I hope you've enjoyed it don't forget you can catch it later

oh and also don't forget to give me a like and subscribe as well so if you

like what you see give me a thumbs up and don't forget this is very important

on YouTube because if you do this on my video it means more people will get to

see it it's true so now YouTube has a different way of deciding whether your

videos are good or not so if it gets lots of these more people will get to

see it yes I know it's a little unfair but that's the way things are and

there's nothing I can do about it thank you very much for your company today

traffic jam do we say a traffic jam of people I think you have a jam of traffic

so maybe people who are in cars and all of the cars on the road there are too

many cars and then they get stuck we can say there is a jam of traffic on strim

says I have already given you a thumbs up thank you very much for that I do

appreciate it when you give me your thumb up thank you very much for that a

lot of things we talked about today including flooding in the area a lot of

flooding has taken place around this area I will show you very quickly again

this is this is what is happening in this actual area at the moment look at

that so there is the view from yesterday in a place called Iron Bridge which is

very close to where I live not far from here we've had so much rain over the

past few days and this weekend we have yet another storm coming our way

storm Ellen is on her way so she is going to be bringing more rain and more

wind to the UK Deary me thank you very much to Tao dang Luis Mendez also Cory

as well can I say thank you to just variation I hope you've enjoyed today's

lesson I had a few technical problems at the start for which I apologize it was

my fault by the way you see sometimes I make

mistakes especially with my little buttons I will see you on Friday

2:00 p.m. UK time thanks for your company I've really enjoyed it today

YouTube is always made making things harder for youtubers it is true there

are many people on YouTube who are really angry at the current situation

but I will carry on I will persevere I will carry on doing this I

will not become demotivated I will continue for as long as I possibly can

this is mr. Duncan saying thanks to Mach mug coffee thank you also to Pat you

thank you very much for joining me today I'm back with you on Friday 2 p.m. UK

time and of course you can watch this again later on hopefully there will be

captions as well underneath this is mr. Duncan in England saying for the final

time I hope you've enjoyed today's lesson I hope also you've enjoyed the

view from the window everything is looking rather misty and murky and yes

there is more rain on the way more rain is coming can you believe it

Thank You Cyn my thank you English English English teacher I saw what you

did there English teacher very clever I like that

hello also to zoo Zika nesta thank you very much and also Noemi who always

gives me a thumbs up every single time that's very kind of you catch you later

and I hope you have a good Wednesday wherever you are watching in the world

and as usual stay safe stay happy

ta ta for now 8-)