Collective noun: A collective noun is a word used to define a group of objects, where "objects" can be live, inanimate things, concepts, or other things. In GMAT Sentence Correction or english grammar in general, collective nouns are always singular. It is important to know as many collective nouns as possible so that we can identify them when we encounter them in questions.

 A list of collective nouns, please include more which I may have missed:

List of Collective nouns:

archive, administration, army,asylum, audience,

babel, ballet, band,
bevy, brigade,

camp, cast, chorus, class, cluster, colony, company,
congregation, constellation, cornucopia, crowd,

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Lie and Lay...

When speaking in the present tense, lie is used when there is no direct object involved.

"I lie down on the bed", or "You lie on the ground"

Lay is used when there is a direct object in the sentence.

"The phone lay on the table" or "The pencil lay on the desk".

In the past tense, lie turns to lay, which makes this confusing.

If you can put "the" in front of the noun that the verb is describing, this is a direct object. I do not know if this is the textbook definition, but I use this to distinguish.

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Rise and Raise are two different words completely. But they sound similar.
Raise: [usually used when a person acts on a third person]
Meanings: to lift something, to set upright, to elevate something.
I think it can be used as a synonym for nurturing ... like he was raised by his foster parents.
Rise: [usually used when a person acts on himself]
Meanings: to get up, to get up from a sleeping/kneeling/sitting position, to come back from dead (zombies anyone!
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The word "in spite" always comes with 'of' .... "in spite of" .....

Note: Its NOT "inspite of", the correct usage is "in spite of" ..... in other words inspite is not a word ...its two words "in spite"

despite and "in spite of" are similar in english, you can use them interchangeably.

Usage: They are used to indicate the fact that they are "taking no notice of" something.

- He went to school in spite of cold weather. (He didnt take notice of cold)

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