Have you ever heard of a “school of fish?”

It’s not a place where they learn anything…

it’s just the English word used for a large group of them.

The English language has a lot of quirks and funny exceptions to it.

It borrows word roots from so many other different languages,

like Latin, Germanic, French, and others, 

and as a result it’s one of the hardest

languages to learn for non-native speakers.

Yet English is the dominant language of many countries:

England (of course!) and the rest of the United Kingdom,

The United States, Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa,

many small island nations in the Caribbean, and more!

It’s also one of several official languages in countries like

India, Singapore, and The Philippines.

About one-third of the world’s population – about 2 billion people –

use English to communicate.

Words like this particular use of “school” are a great example of how

strange and interesting the English language can be.

A word that describes a large group of something (especially animals)

is called a collective noun, and there are almost as many

different collective nouns as there are kinds of things!

If you’ve ever said “a flock of seagulls” or “a bouquet of flowers,”

you were using collective nouns!

The use of these funny group terms date back to the 14th century

and are mostly specific to the English language. 

So maybe a fish “school” should teach about the English language…

there’s a lot to learn about it!