A pair of ---> singular or plural

English grammar questions, answered by Alan

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SARDORBEK
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A pair of ---> singular or plural

Post 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...
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Alan
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Re: A pair of ---> singular or plural

Post 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'.
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