Grammar. Parts of Speech for Second Grade. Reflexive pronouns and collective nouns.

Each member of the family requires time to rest and recharge, reflect and communicate on important milestones. Imagine your family having a cozy and delicious dinner every weekend. One of your children always speaks about her dream to be a part of the crew on a cruise ship, while your son constantly talks about his desire to join a national sports team.

These concepts will help you to talk about the one type of noun called collective nouns. A collective noun refers to a group. It can be singular or plural, depending on whether members are doing the same task at the same time. The collective noun is singular if the members have involved in one and the same task.

If they are not united in performing one action, this noun will be plural. Read more about parts of speech in special articles about grammar.

People typically view themselves and others as part of a group, so it’s no wonder that collective nouns are very often used in our everyday life. The same applies to non-human groups. The underlined words in bold are collective nouns (family, crew, and team). Each refers to a group of people.

Collective nouns are also used to denote a group of animals/ things, for example, flock (of sheep), pack (of dogs), herd (of cows or deer); bouquet, set, bunch, etc.

In your quality time, your kids can reflect on describing themselves as being part of something. Your daughter can describe herself as a part of her circle. It’s possible that your son would like to explain himself to you when he’s upset about his group.

You can also share your thoughts and reflections on your own self in your childhood. The words underlined are reflexive pronouns. A reflexive pronoun refers back to the subject. Examples of other reflexive pronouns are myself, ourselves, yourselves, itself, and themselves.

To help your children understand the definition, you can explain the above statements as follows:

• Other children can also describe themselves.
  (‘Themselves’ refers back to the subject ‘children’.” It is used as a plural subject.)
• Your daughter can describe herself.
  (‘Herself’ refers back to the subject ‘daughter’ and is used for singular feminine subjects.)
• Your son can explain himself.
  (‘Himself’ refers back to the subject ‘son’ and is used for singular masculine subjects.)
• You can also describe yourself.
  (‘Yourself’ refers back to the subject ‘you’. Yourself is used for a singular subject, while yourselves is used as a plural subject.)

Also, here are three second-grade grammar worksheets you can use to help your children consolidate what they have learned about these concepts and eventually apply it in their speech.

The first one, the Commonly Used Collective Nouns Practice Sheet, is here to help you determine if your children can recognize this type of noun. The practice helps them memorize these nouns and learn to use them in academic or personal discussions, in written or spoken forms.

In the second worksheet, Collaborative Nouns Worksheet, collective nouns are incorporated into a story. This gives you a practical way to let young minds learn these nouns. Kids need to discover what groups of animals the girl Abby saw during her visit to a farm. This interactive activity requires some adult guidance through the story to help the child understand its plot.

The third worksheet, Reflexive Nouns Worksheet targets children’s retention of the concept and their ability to use it in their own sentences. This activity is a great way to help children understand the function and let them complete the statements correctly.

Now that your children have successfully done the maze of reflexive pronouns and collective nouns, they are ready to embark on another learning adventure: Identifying Nouns In the Story.