Re: It is/They are a nice pair of shoes to buy. (Are they all acceptable?)

Athel Cornish-Bowden wrote:
Pat Durkin said:
datere wrote:

*It is a nice pair of shoes to buy.
*They are a nice pair of shoes to buy.
[ ... ]

However, in a conversational negotiation such as this (between
friends or between the customer and the clerk), the referent(s) will
be constantly and rapidly switching from "these" to "those" to "this
pair" to "that pair" (to "It" to They"). There is a lot of
pointing, and hefting and putting next to other pairs, sometimes
holding one of each pair side-by-side as the comments are being made.

Hmm. I have thought for a long time that "Pat" stood for "Patrick",
but now I see that it must stand for "Patricia". When men buy shoes,
in my experience, they try on one or two pairs, and if they fit
comfortably that's that. No pointing and hefting etc.

You haven't seen some of the men I've seen buying shoes, then.

--
Maria C.


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