
Student or Learner
Is it correct to say a flock of sheep/deer?
Thanks.
In BrE, it's a flock of sheep, not a herd. I have always thought that is odd because "shepherd" comes from "sheep herder".
Flock of sheep.
Herd of cows.
Herd of deer.
There are several possibilities for each animal but most variants of English choose one which the majority if the population uses. If you go to Dictionary.com, then "Style Guide", you can then find a page titled "Animal Groups".
Remember - if you don't use correct capitalisation, punctuation and spacing, anything you write will be incorrect.
I'm not a teacher, but I write for a living. Please don't ask me about 2nd conditionals, but I'm a safe bet for what reads well in (American) English.
I am wondering why you posted that. Your first question asked us if it was correct to say "a flock of sheep/deer". Gillnetter's first reply clearly said "A flock of sheep and a herd of deer". What part of that reply prompted you to put, in bold "A herd of sheep is correct"? I don't know where you took that from.
Remember - if you don't use correct capitalisation, punctuation and spacing, anything you write will be incorrect.
Thanks, emrs. I got it from the following.
Definition of herd | Collins English Dictionary
I see. Had you identified the source in the post, I wouldn't have been so confused!
As I said in my first post, the list on that link shows various possible terms for groups of different animals and I noticed that both "herd" and "flock" were shown for sheep. I would say that the vast majority of BrE speakers would tell you it's flock. Other variants might use a different term.
I still don't think you can beat a "murder of crows".
Remember - if you don't use correct capitalisation, punctuation and spacing, anything you write will be incorrect.
I've just learned a new expression. Thank you.
I've done some research on the Internet, and I've found these:
World Wide Words: Precision of Lexicographers
http://lyberty.com/encyc/articles/murder.html
Interesting.
Elaine, if you search on Google for animal collective nouns, you will find many pages with many entries. Many of the animal types will have more than one name for a collective. Where they all come from is anybody's guess. But for each type of animal there is a preferred name that is used most commonly.
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