Individual, collective and compound nouns – Free Exercise

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Ejercicios

Decide if the nouns below are individual or collective.

  1. tripulación →
    group of people → collective nouncrew
  2. palabra →
    a word is one linguistic unit → individual nounword
  3. flora →
    all the different plants of a country or region → collective nounflora
  4. fruta →
    all individual fruits as a group → collective nounfruit
  5. plato →
    individual container → individual noundish
  6. leña →
    a group of logscollective nounfirewood
  7. mantel →
    one piece of material to cover a table → individual nountablecloth
  8. alumno →
    individual person who studies → individual nounstudent
  9. rebaño →
    group of animals like sheep or birds → collective nounflock
  10. isla →
    one portion of land surrounded by water → individual nounisland

Decide if the following singular nouns are individual or collective nouns.

  1. constelación →
    a group of stars → collective nounconstellation
  2. leño →
    piece of a tree that has been chopped to make fire → individual nounlog
  3. archipiélago →
    a group of islands → collective nounarchipelago
  4. fruto →
    the edible part of a plant → individual noun(a piece of) fruit
  5. animal →
    a living being → individual nounanimal
  6. flor →
    one flower → individual nounflower
  7. oveja →
    one mammal → individual nounsheep
  8. vajilla →
    a group of plates, dishes, glasses, etc → collective noundinner service
  9. banca →
    a group of individual banks and financial institutions → collective nounbanking
  10. bandada →
    group of birds that fly together → collective nounflock

Write the compound noun that can be formed from the pairs of words.

  1. parar + agua = el  3rd person singular of present indicative (para) + plural noun (aguas)umbrella
  2. cortar + fuego = el  3rd person singular of present indicative (corta) + plural noun (fuegos)firebreak
  3. sacar + corcho = el  3rd person singular of present indicative (saca) + plural noun (corchos)corkscrew
  4. parar + rayo = el  3rd person singular of present indicative (para) + plural noun (rayos)
    double the r to maintain the strong pronunciation
    lightning rod
  5. pisar + papel = el  3rd person singular of present indicative (pisa) + plural noun (papeles)paperweight
  6. abrir + carta = el  3rd person singular of present indicative (abre) + plural noun (cartas)letter opener
  7. portar + mina = el  3rd person singular of present indicative (porta) + plural noun (minas)mechanical pencil
  8. posar + vaso = el  3rd person singular of present indicative (posa) + plural noun (vasos)coaster
  9. salvar + vida = el  3rd person singular of present indicative (salva) + plural noun (vidas)lifejacket
  10. cien + pie = el  cien + plural noun (pies)
    before p and b we always write m and never n
    the compound noun is acute, bisyllabic and ends in -s, meaning that we have to place an accent on pies
    centipede