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Some nouns have no singular form. Such a noun is called a plurale tantum. Examples include cattle, thanks, clothes (originally a plural of cloth). A particular set of nouns, describing things having two parts, comprises the major group of pluralia tantum in modern English:
The words trousers and pants are pluralia tantum, nouns that generally only appear in plural form—much like the words scissors and tongs, and as such pair of trousers is the usual correct form. However, the singular form is used in some compound words, such as trouser-leg, trouser-press and trouser-bottoms. [7]
An adjustable sewing mannequin or dress form is used to create form-fitting clothing. If the fabric is expensive, the tailor tries to use every bit of the cloth rectangle in constructing the clothing; perhaps cutting triangular pieces from one corner of the cloth, and adding them elsewhere as gussets .
Like the singular denotes exactly one item, the dual number denotes exactly two items. For example, in Camsá: [15] kes̈ - "dog" (singular) kes̈at - "two dogs" (dual) kes̈ëng - "dogs" (plural) In languages with a singular/dual/plural paradigm, the exact meaning of plural depends on whether the dual is obligatory or facultative (optional). [16]
In English, some plurale tantum nouns have a singular form used only attributively.Phrases such as "trouser press" and "scissor kick" contain the singular form, but it is considered nonstandard to say "a trouser" or "a scissor" on its own (though in the fashion and tailoring industries use of "trouser" in the singular to refer to a particular style occurs [2]).
Clothing terminology comprises the names of individual garments and classes of ... The much-older term shimmy for "slip" is most likely a false singular from chemise.
Breeches uses a plural form to reflect it has two legs; the word has no singular form (it is a plurale tantum). This construction is common in English and Italian (brache, plural of the never-used braca), but is no longer common in some other languages in which it was once common; e.g., the parallel modern Dutch: broek.
This default quantity is most commonly one (a form that represents this default quantity of one is said to be of singular number). Therefore, plurals most typically denote two or more of something, although they may also denote fractional, zero or negative amounts. An example of a plural is the English word boys, which corresponds to the ...