Individual, collective and compound nouns – Free Exercise

show special characters
display incorrect answers

Ejercicios

Decide if the nouns below are individual or collective.

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

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

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

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