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Teo
Joined: 15 Oct 2005
Posts: 193
Location: Taiwan
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 Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 1:45 am Post subject: a pair of pants, singular or plural |
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Mary bought me a pair of pants. _________ good on me. (A) It looks (B) They look
Which choice is correct, A or B?
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Thank you very much for your reply. |
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2006
Joined: 27 Nov 2006
Posts: 610
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| Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 6:08 am Post subject: |
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| B is correct; "a pair" means two. Pants and eye glasses are always referred to as 'they', plural. And we say, 'Where are my (pants)(glasses)?' |
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Lorikeet
Joined: 08 Oct 2005
Posts: 1877
Location: San Francisco
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| Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 8:01 am Post subject: |
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| 2006 wrote: |
| B is correct; "a pair" means two. Pants and eye glasses are always referred to as 'they', plural. And we say, 'Where are my (pants)(glasses)?' |
Would you say, "This pair of pants are expensive?" In my dialect, I'd say, "This pair of pants is expensive." I know there are some differences, because I would also say "My family is here." and not "My family are here." which is another variant. |
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2006
Joined: 27 Nov 2006
Posts: 610
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| Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 10:01 am Post subject: |
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No, I would say 'This pair (of pants) is expensive.', but 'These pants are expensive.' In the original question, "They" refers to "pants", not to "pair".
I also say 'My family is here.'
Thanks for raising this point for clarification.
While 'a pair' means two, 'pair' by itself is a singular noun, as is 'family'.
Do we agree? |
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