Partitive nouns with "geese"

Question

Hello,Would you please tell me if all these words work in the following sentence?We saw a flock / gaggle / plump / skein / team / wedge / flight of wild geese approaching from a distance.Thank you for your help and I wish you all a happy new year.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Only flock and flight seem natural to me.

Usually, we'd just say eg some geese.

Fivejedjon · Answer

Like other ageing speakers of BrE who had to learn pointless lists of collective nouns at school nearly sixty years ago, I use gaggle and, if they are flying, skein.

For learners, I would recommend only flock or flight.

Blue Jay · Answer

A skein of geese is correct to describe them when flying, although it's not a phrase you come across very often. Skein works for swans, too.
A gaggle of geese is correct to describe a group of them, but I have always pictured a gaggle as a group on the ground. I don't know if there is a rule about this, or whether it's my interpretation only, but I haven't been able to find any reference to a gaggle in flight.
A wedge of geese would work if they are flying in a V formation. Wedge would work for other animals or people in a wedge shape.
A plump of geese is new to me, but apparently it is correct to describe a group of geese on water. It wouldn't work in your sentence, as your geese are apparently flying.
A team of geese is also new to me, but apparently it is correct to describe them when flying.
Flock and flight are simpler and more widely understood. I suspect that most native speakers would not know skein, plump or team. A wedge of geese, though easily understood, is probably rarely used, and gaggle of geese is more often used metaphorically than literally.

CalifJim · Answer

Helaa [plump / skein / team / wedge] of wild geese

I've never heard any of these words applied to geese.

Maybe I was a deprived child.

CJ

Partitive nouns with "geese"

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