Three methods to describe the collective motion - Random Phase Approximation (RPA), Wigner Function Moments (WFM) and Green's Function (GF) method are compared in detail, and their physical content is analyzed with an example of a simple model - the harmonic oscillator with quadrupole-quadrupole residual interaction. It is shown that they give identical formulae for eigenfrequencies and transition probabilities of all collective excitations of the model. The exact relation between the RPA and WFM variables and the respective dynamical equations is established. The transformation of the RPA spectrum into the one of WFM is explained. The very close connection of the WFM method with the GF one is demonstrated. A differential equation describing the current lines of RPA modes is established and the current lines of the scissors mode are analyzed as a superposition of rotational and irrotational components. The orthogonality of the spurious state to all physical states is proved rigorously.

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