1.47 typical meanings: clothes and tools

Two special groups of nouns are usually plural: nouns referring to clothes and some other things that people wear, and nouns referring to tools and some other things that people use.

This is because some clothes and tools, such as 'trousers' and 'scissors', are made up of two similar parts.

• She wore brown trousers and a green sweater.
• He took off his glasses.
• ...using the pliers from the toolbox.

When you want to refer to these items in general, or to an unspecified number of them, you use the plural form with no determiner.

• Never poke scissors into a light bulb socket.
• The man was watching the train through binoculars.

Here is a list of some plural nouns which refer to clothes and other things that people wear:

• bermudas, braces, briefs, cords, corduroys, culottes, dungarees, flannels, flares, galoshes, glasses, jeans, jodhpurs, knickerbockers, knickers, leggings, overalls, panties, pants, pyjamas, shorts, slacks, specs, spectacles, sunglasses, tights, trousers, trunks, underpants

Here is a list of plural nouns which refer to tools and other things that people use:

• binoculars, clippers, compasses, dividers, field-glasses, nutcrackers, pincers, pliers, scales, scissors, secateurs, shears, tongs, tweezers

When you want to refer to a single piece of clothing or a single tool, you can use 'some' or 'a pair of' in front of the noun. You can refer to more than one item by using a number or a quantifier with 'pairs of'.

• I got some scissors out of the kitchen drawer.
• I was sent out to buy a pair of scissors.
• He was wearing a pair of old grey trousers.
• Liza has three pairs of jeans.

You can also use 'a pair of' when you are talking about things such as gloves, shoes, and socks which typically occur in twos.

• ...a pair of new gloves.

A possessive determiner such as 'my' can be used instead of 'a'.

• ...his favourite pair of shoes.

When you use 'a pair of' with a noun in the plural form, the verb is singular if it is in the same clause. If the verb is in a following relative clause, it is usually plural.

• It is likely that a new pair of shoes brings more happiness to a child than a new car brings to a grown-up.
• I always wear a pair of long pants underneath, or a pair of pyjamas is just as good.
• He put on a pair of brown shoes, which were waiting there for him.
• He wore a pair of earphones, which were plugged into a tape-recorder.

You use a plural pronoun after 'a pair of'.

• She went to the wardrobe, chose a pair of shoes, put them on and leaned back in the chair.
• He brought out a pair of dark glasses and handed them to Walker.