Level: intermediate
A few plural nouns refer to things that have two parts. They have no singular form. These are always things we wear:
| glasses/spectacles | trousers | shorts |
| pyjamas | pants | boxers |
| tights | jeans | knickers |
Those trousers are too long.
or implements:
| pliers | scissors | binoculars | pincers |
These binoculars were very expensive.
To make it clear we are talking about one of these items, we use a pair of …:
I need a new pair of spectacles.
I've bought a pair of blue jeans.
If we want to talk about more than one, we use pairs of …:
We've got three pairs of scissors, but they are all blunt.
I always carry two pairs of binoculars.
- Singular, plural or both?
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In my textbook,where they use "shoe" without "s" in an example. The example is -I used my "shoe" as a hammer.
If "shoe" is a pair noun ,why didn't they use "shoes"?
Hello Faii,
We use 'a pair of' when we think of two items as making a whole. This is true of shoes as they are sold as pairs and for most people a right and a left are both needed. However, that does not mean that they cannot be separated and spoken of individually (unlike non-separable 'pairs' like trousers and spectacles). You can have a problem with one shoe (but not the other), for example, or use one shoe as a hammer (as in your example).
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team