'Two pairs of jeans' vs 'Three ... of jeans'

[Tom]

Hi

I would like to know which word to be used in the blanks!

1- I bought two pairs of jeans last night.
2- I bought three _________ of jeans last night.
3- I bought three _________ of sun-glasses last night.

Thanks a lot

Tom

[Alan]

Hi Tom,

Pairs, pairs, pairs. What else?

A
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English as a Second Language
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[Tom]

Thanks, Alan

...but isn't pair used for two only?

Tom

[Alan]

Hi Tom,

The actual item of clothing (jeans) or the item for seeing (sun glasses) are always known as a pair of - a single pair of jeans is one thing.

A
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English as a Foreign Language
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[Yankee]

Hi Tom

"A pair of" is one of the interesting little excentricities in English.

Most pairs are clearly two separate things. But a few "pairs" are single units. With a little imagination, however, you may notice that these "single pairs" consisit of two, usually identical halves:

a pair of trousers/pants/jeans (note: each pair "consists of" two legs )
a pair of shorts
a pair of pajamas
a pair of suspenders
a pair of glasses/sunglasses
a pair of scissors
a pair of tweezers
a pair of pliers

Amy

[Jamie (K)]

[Alan]

Hi Tom,

I would stick to pairs.

A
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English as a Second Language
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[Jamie (K)]

I would expect to hear "two pairs of jeans" from someone who also says, "He don't like it." It's common, but it sounds like an over-regularization, as if the speaker doesn't know which plurals take an S and which don't. It's kind of like saying "deers" or "rhinoceroses".

However, "pairs" would be plural all by itself, without a number, as in, "Separate the socks into pairs."

[Alan]

Ho ho ho

I has just seen three pairs of rhinoceroses.
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English as a Foreign Language
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[Conchita]

And I would never say 'two/three, etc. pair of'. Poor old uneducated me!