Collins Cobuild English Grammar (12 page)

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 that refer to clothes and other things that people wear:

braces

briefs

cords

dungarees

glasses

jeans

jodhpurs

knickers

leggings

overalls

panties

pants

pyjamas

shorts

slacks

specs

spectacles

sunglasses

tights

trousers

trunks

underpants

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

binoculars

clippers

compasses

dividers

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 use
some
or
a pair of
in front of the noun. You refer to more than one item by using a number or a quantity expression with
pairs of
.

I got
some scissors
out of the kitchen drawer.
I went 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 that 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 radio.

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.

Referring to groups: collective nouns

1.47
    Some nouns in English refer to a group of people or things. These nouns are called
collective nouns
. They have only one form, but many collective nouns have other meanings in which they are countable nouns with two forms.

singular or plural verb

1.48
    When you use a collective noun, you can use either a singular verb or a plural verb after it.

You choose a singular verb if you think of the group as a single unit, and a plural verb if you think of the group as a number of individuals.

Our little
group is
complete again.
A second
group are
those parents who feel that we were too harsh.
Our
family isn’t
poor any more.
My
family are
all perfectly normal.
The enemy was moving
slowly to the east.
The enemy were
visibly
cracking
.
His arguments were confined to books which
the public was
unlikely to read.
The public were deceived
by the newspapers.

     In American English, it is more usual to use a singular verb unless the sentence contains an element that clearly refers to more than one person or thing.

The names of many organizations are collective nouns, and can be used with a singular or a plural verb.

The BBC is sending
him to Tuscany for the summer.
The BBC are planning
to use the new satellite next month.
England was leading
18-0 at half-time.
England are seeking
alternatives for their B team.

     American English uses a singular verb for these.

GE reports
its second-quarter financial results on July 16.
New England is
going to sign him to a long-term contract.

If you want to refer back to a collective noun, you choose a singular pronoun or determiner if the previous verb is singular, and a plural pronoun or determiner if the previous verb is plural.

The government
has said it
would wish to do this only if there was no alternative.
The government
have made up their
minds that
they
’re going to win.

USAGE NOTE

1.49
    Note that the words
bacteria
,
data
, and
media
are now often used as collective nouns, that is with either a singular or a plural verb and no change in form. Some careful speakers think they should only be used with a plural verb because they have the rare singular forms
bacterium
,
datum
, and
medium
and are therefore countable nouns.

Medieval Arabic data show
that the length of the day has been increasing more slowly than expected.
Our latest data shows
more firms are hoping to expand in the near future.

BE CAREFUL

1.50
    Although you can use a plural verb after a collective noun, these nouns do not behave like the plural forms of countable nouns. For example, you cannot use numbers in front of them. You cannot say
Three enemy were killed
. You have to say
Three of the enemy were killed
.

list of collective nouns

1.51
    Here is a list of common collective nouns:

aristocracy

army

audience

bacteria

brood

cast

committee

community