Individual, collective and compound nouns – mixed exercises

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Ejercicios

Decide if the nouns below are individual or collective.

  1. tripulación →
    [La tripulación → crew]|The crew is the group of people who work on a plane during a flight.
  2. palabra →
    [palabra → word]|A word is one linguistic unit.
  3. flora →
    Flora is the name for all the different plants of a country or region.
  4. fruta →
    [fruta → fruit]|Fruit is the term for all individual fruits.
  5. plato →
    [plato → dish]|A dish is an individual container.
  6. leña →
    [leña → firewood]|Firewood is a group of logs (leños).
  7. mantel →
    [mantel → tablecloth]|A tablecloth is one piece of material to cover a table.
  8. alumno →
    [alumno → student]|A student is an individual person who studies.
  9. rebaño →
    rebaño → flock]|A flock is a group of animals like sheep or birds.
  10. isla →
    [isla → island]|An island is one portion of land surrounded by water.

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

  1. constelación →
    [constelación → constellation]|A constellation is a group of stars.
  2. leño →
    [leños → a log]|A log is a piece of a tree that has been chopped to make fire.
  3. archipiélago →
    [archipiélago → archipelago]|An archipelago is a group of islands.
  4. fruto →
    [fruto → a fruit]|A fruit is the edible part of the plant that holds the seeds.
  5. animal →
    An animal is a living being.
  6. flor →
    [flor → a flower]|A flower is a colourful plant with petals.
  7. oveja →
    [oveja → sheep]|A sheep is a mammal.
  8. vajilla →
    [vajilla → dinner service]|A dinner service is a group of plates, dishes, glasses, etc.
  9. banca →
    [banca → banking]|Banking is a group of individual banks and financial institutions.
  10. bandada →
    [bandada → flock]|A flock is a group of birds that fly together.

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

  1. parar + agua = el  [paraguas → umbrella]|3rd person singular of present indicative (para) + plural noun (aguas).
  2. cortar + fuego = el  [cortafuegos → firebreak]|3rd person singular of present indicative (corta) + plural noun (fuegos).
  3. sacar + corcho = el  [sacacorchos → corkscrew]|3rd person singular of present indicative (saca) + plural noun (corchos).
  4. parar + rayo = el  [pararrayos → lightning rod]|3rd person singular of present indicative (para) + plural noun (rayos).|We double the r to maintain the strong pronunciation.
  5. pisar + papel = el  [pisapapeles → paperweight]|3rd person singular of present indicative (pisa) + plural noun (papeles).
  6. abrir + carta = el  [abrecartas → letter opener]|3rd person singular of present indicative (abre) + plural noun (cartas).
  7. portar + mina = el  [portaminas → mechanical pencil]|3rd person singular of present indicative (porta) + plural noun (minas).
  8. posar + vaso = el  [posavasos → coaster]|3rd person singular of present indicative (posa) + plural noun (vasos).
  9. salvar + vida = el  [salvavidas → lifejacket]|3rd person singular of present indicative (salva) + plural noun (vidas).
  10. cien + pie = el  [ciempiés → centipede]|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.