|
|
2 questions
1.We usually say a pair of pants；a pair of socks etc.
May i say a pants ，one pants， a sock or three socks？ 2.She never does housework.Is this sentence right？ thanks
ANN,
1. If it is 'a' or 'one', it can't be pants. It can be 'a pant' or 'one pant'. It also depends on the usage. Ex: The purse is in the pant. We never say 'The Purse is in the pair of pants'. Socks, usually is described in pairs. Ex: I need to purchase a pair of socks. If you say three socks, it can be three individual socks. 2. I assume, a slight modification in the sentence can make it proper: She never does the housework. I also feel that the sentence posted by you is correct depending on the situation. Ex: She never does housework; instead, she likes to party always. Cheers
ANN & Pravi,
Yes, "a pants" and "one pants" are wrong but "a pant" and "one pant" are still quite odd because pants always come in pairs (these days at least). Therefore "The purse is in the pant." is quite odd. "The purse is in the pair of pants." is better, it's correct but, no, we never use such a mouthful as this. "The purse is in the pants." is how we'd usually put it. There's nothing at all wrong with "a sock" or "three socks". Yes, they usually come in pairs but, unlike pants, they aren't sewn together. You can easily have an odd number of socks floating around ... in fact, it's quite common. Also "She never does housework." is fine. "She never does the housework." is fine too. They differ slightly in meaning ... not in properness. Yes, it depends on the situation. The former is unspecific: she never does any housework anywhere. The latter refers to the housework in some particular house.
... or some particular set of houses. Anyway, some specific set of housework (when you're using "the").
|