English nouns that are only used in the plural

There are a few nouns in English that are only used in the plural. They may be confusing for English learners if the equivalent expression in their mother tongue is in the singular, which is the case especially for many of the following items of clothing:

All this hosiery is used only in the plural, usually because the items come in pairs (for both legs) and the singular form has died out. For example:

It is common to refer to a single item as a “pair” because it is not possible to use the indefinite article “a” with a plural noun:

Note that the word “trousers” in British English refers to any kind of clothes worn from the waist down covering both legs separately, whereas the general term in the US is “pants” (and “trousers” is used less commonly). In British English “pants” means the same as “underpants” or “knickers”, i.e. a kind of underwear, which is referred to as “panties” in American English.

Other common examples of things that come in inseparable pairs are:

(Do not confuse “tongs”, a tool, with “thongs”, the plural of “thong”, which is a type of underwear.) All the nouns above require a plural verb:

Again, it is common to refer separate items as “pairs”:

Other examples

There are many other examples of nouns that exist only in the plural. Some of the most common are:

• clothes (not to be confused with cloths)
• remains (the remaining parts of something)
• arms (in the sense of “weapons”)
• outskirts (of a city)
• shenanigans (mischief, craziness, trickery)