Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Lesson 375. The title of today's lesson is
do not use "a pair of" in the general sense. Okay. Let's look at the note
here. Use "a pair of' in the individual sense for a specific person. You know,
probably at a specific time or at a specific event. Okay. Let's continue. Of
course with the X, this would be wrong. Why do you always wear a pair of black
pants ? All right. Now once you hear always, that immediately implies the general
sense because it's you know, all the time. We're not talking about a specific event
or a specific time. So why do you always wear a pair of black pants and if you
said that, to be honest it sounds like the person is wearing the same black
pants. And you may not mean that. They may actually in fact wear different black
pants. It's just that they like black pants. So they wear black pants all the
time. So here with check this would be correct. Why do you always wear black
pants ? That's what we should say. We shouldn't be saying why do you always
wear a pair of black pants. All right. Again this is one where you know,
especially students of ESL make this mistake. A native speaker instinctively
will know that this sounds a little weird. He probably would not say this. All
right. Let's continue again here. With the next X. She always wears a pair of
sneakers. Again always implies the general sense. So with the check this would be
correct. She always wears sneakers . Maybe you know, anytime you see her if she has
sneakers on, you never see her with regular shoes. She always wears sneakers.
And again it may not be the same pair of sneakers, She might have several. Let's
continue. With the X. Again this is wrong. He likes to wear a pair of sunglasses
when he goes skiing. Now again it sounds awkward. It sounds weird. It is the general
sense because you know, likes means you like to do this all the time. He likes to
wear sunglasses when he goes skiing. That
should be it. So here with the check this would be correct. All right. Let's
continue. And then just a few other examples where we should say a pair of
something. I need to buy a new pair of sunglasses. All right. So yeah, this will be
you know, a specific event that's coming up. That you're planning to do this. You
want to buy a new pair. It's not really the general sense. Or number ... the
second one here. With the check. I bought 2 pairs of jeans because they were on
sale. This would be you know, probably at a specific time, at a specific event.
While the sale was on, he went in and he bought 2 pairs of jeans. Okay. I hope you
got it. I hope it was clear. I hope it was informative. Thank you for your time.
Bye-bye.