Grammar: Word classes: Number words
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Specifying quantity | |
Collective numbers
Collective numbers form a small group of number words with the potential to cause the learner problems:
| Collective numbers | ||
| number | spelling | examples |
| 2 6 12 |
a couple of a half dozen/half a dozen a/one dozen |
Bozo borrowed a
couple of videos yesterday. We need half a dozen eggs for this recipe. I'll go and buy a dozen eggs then. |
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Couple can be inexact - it may mean two, but often simply means a few. When two matching objects are meant (or objects that go together in twos), we use a pair, eg a pair of shoes, a pair of chopsticks. |
Collective numbers function similarly to 'collective nouns' (pride of lions, pack of dogs, litter of pups, flock of geese). The main difference is that collective nouns do not number nouns but sort according to the type of thing named or according to the species.
For more information on collective nouns, see 
Grammar: Word classes: Nouns: Countable and uncountable
nouns
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Quantity words |
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