Hi
I would like to know which word to be used in the blanks!
1- I bought two pairs of jeans last night.
2- I bought three _________ of jeans last night.
3- I bought three _________ of sun-glasses last night.
Thanks a lot
Tom
Hi Tom,
Pairs, pairs, pairs. What else?
A
Thanks, Alan
…but isn’t pair used for two only?
Tom
Hi Tom,
The actual item of clothing (jeans) or the item for seeing (sun glasses) are always known as a pair of - a single pair of jeans is one thing.
A
Hi Tom
“A pair of” is one of the interesting little excentricities in English.
Most pairs are clearly two separate things. But a few “pairs” are single units. With a little imagination, however, you may notice that these “single pairs” consisit of two, usually identical halves:
a pair of trousers/pants/jeans (note: each pair “consists of” two legs :D)
a pair of shorts
a pair of pajamas
a pair of suspenders
a pair of glasses/sunglasses
a pair of scissors
a pair of tweezers
a pair of pliers
Amy
The plural of pair can be pairs or pair. I would use pair in all of these sentences:
1- I bought two pair of jeans last night.
2- I bought three pair of jeans last night.
3- I bought three pair of sun-glasses last night.
And:
4- “Did you buy jeans last night?” “Yes, two pair.”
Using pairs sounds distinctly odd to me, although I assume it’s also right.
Hi Tom,
I would stick to pairs.
A
I would expect to hear “two pairs of jeans” from someone who also says, “He don’t like it.” It’s common, but it sounds like an over-regularization, as if the speaker doesn’t know which plurals take an S and which don’t. It’s kind of like saying “deers” or “rhinoceroses”.
However, “pairs” would be plural all by itself, without a number, as in, “Separate the socks into pairs.”
Ho ho ho
I has just seen three pairs of rhinoceroses.
And I would never say ‘two/three, etc. pair of’. Poor old uneducated me! :roll: