Re: "dual" number - another question

iando wrote:
> According to R..Quirk et al: A comprehnesive grammar of the English
> language, nouns which are handled as plural uncountable such as
> glasses, trousers, binoculars, bellows are called "summation plurals".
> To be honest, I think these nouns - to be strict, objects indicated by
> nouns - belonging to summation plurals are singular objects in fact.
> But I am curious about whether English-natives recognize really these
> objects plural objects actually or just observe English linguistic
> customs - grammar- though they recognize these objects singular ones.
> Could anyone explain this?
>

Not really. It's confusing. I could say: "I bought a pair of trousers"
or "I bought some trousers" or "I bought trousers" and expect to convey
the same meaning (although the second and third statements could be
taken to mean I bought more than one pair of trousers.)
Similarly I could say "I am wearing a pair of old jeans", "I am wearing
some old jeans" and "I am wearing old jeans" and, in this context, the
statements would be taken to mean the same thing.
"I am wearing glasses" equals "I am wearing a pair of glasses" but "I
have two pairs of glasses" is not the same as "I have two glasses". It's
all a bit of a bollocks.
--
John Dean
Oxford

.

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