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A pair of ---> singular or plural

Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2012 2:52 pm
by SARDORBEK
Dear TEACHER!
1) He put on a pair of brown shoes, which were waiting there for him.
2) He wore a pair of earphones ,which were plugged into a tape-recorder.

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

I have a question regarding boldfaced words:
Instead of plural can we use singular ----> was; was; it; it respectively and if so,
is this usage considered to be grammatically correct?
What is the difference between sing. and plural usage?

Many thanks...

Re: A pair of ---> singular or plural

Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 3:25 am
by Alan
In such cases, pronoun agreement tends to be with the plural item itself, rather than with the singular 'counter' (a pair, etc.). Thus, in the case of

He put on a pair of brown shoes, which were waiting there for him.

'which' is treated as if it were referring simply to 'some brown shoes'.