In this analogy, pride is related to lion as shoal is related to which group or collection of living things?

Introduction / Context:
This verbal analogy question checks knowledge of collective nouns in English. A collective noun is a special word used to refer to a group of animals, people or things. The pair given in the question is Pride : lion, and we must find which living things form a shoal. These types of questions are common in language, reasoning and general English sections of competitive exams.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• We know that a pride is the collective noun for a group of lions.
• The word shoal is another English collective noun that refers to a group of certain creatures.
• Options include Fish, School, Deer and Plants.
• We assume standard dictionary usage and no trick or non standard meaning.

Concept / Approach:
The relationship Pride : lion tells us that the first word is the collective noun and the second word names the animal. To keep the analogy parallel, shoal must also be a collective noun and the missing word must be the animal that usually appears with it. The well known phrase in English is “a shoal of fish.” Therefore, the relationship is collective noun to animal, and we must pick Fish as the corresponding term.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Identify the pattern in Pride : lion. Pride is a group name, lion is the animal. Step 2: Recall common collective nouns from vocabulary, such as herd of cattle, flock of sheep, swarm of bees and shoal of fish. Step 3: Connect shoal with its usual partner in English, which is fish. Step 4: Check that the pattern is consistent. Pride : lion as shoal : fish matches collective noun to animal in both pairs. Step 5: Eliminate alternatives that do not fit the definition of shoal.

Verification / Alternative check:
A quick dictionary check or memory from school level English confirms that shoal means a large number of fish swimming together. You never say a shoal of deer or a shoal of plants. Also, the word school is itself a collective noun used in the phrase “a school of fish,” so it cannot be the animal. This reinforces that fish is the correct answer and maintains the required structure of the analogy.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:

• School: This is another collective noun, not an animal. It would break the pattern because Pride : lion is not noun : noun-of-same-type but group : animal.
• Deer: Groups of deer are typically called a herd, not a shoal. So deer does not match shoal.
• Plants: There is no standard phrase shoal of plants. Shoal is specifically used with aquatic animals like fish.

Common Pitfalls:
A frequent mistake is to get distracted by the option School because many learners remember school of fish and confuse that with shoal. The key is to notice that in the original pair the second word is the creature itself, not the group name. Being careful about which word is the animal and which one is the collective noun helps to avoid this confusion.

Final Answer:
The correct completion is shoal : Fish, giving the full analogy Pride : lion :: Shoal : fish.