English Grammar & Vocabulary: Permanent Plurals

[Exhales] So hot today.

You know what?

I don't need pants for this video.

Whew.

Hey, everyone.

I'm Alex.

Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on "Nouns That Are Always Plural".

So, if you know anything about count and noncount nouns, you know that count nouns can be singular

or plural.

"Cup", "cups"; "table", "tables"; "school", "schools".

But there are some nouns...

The list is not very long, but there are some nouns that always stay plural, that only have

a plural form, and today I'm going to talk about them.

Now, I know some of you might have some issues, you know, trying to memorize some of these

things, but after today's lesson, I promise you: You're going to feel a lot better, a

lot more confident, and you will be able to use these nouns correctly and confidently,

which is really important, obviously, when you're learning and speaking a language.

So...

Whew.

That's better.

I feel the air now.

I feel the air.

So: "clothes", the word "clothes" itself is permanently plural.

Right?

So you can say: "I have too many clothes."

Not: "too much clothes", because even though it only has one form, some people say: "Do

I have too much clothes or too many clothes?"

No, it's a plural, permanently plural, so you use "many" with the noun "clothes".

Okay?

So: "I have too many clothes."

You can't say...

Do not say: "I have two clothes", or: "to clothes-es-es", don't do it.

Okay?

So, just: "I have a lot of clothes.

I need new clothes.

I need some new clothes."

That's okay.

If you want to count clothes, there is a way, but you don't use the word "clothes", you

use the word "clothing" and you use the quantifier expression of "articles of clothing".

Okay?

So: "There are 3 new articles of clothing in my closet."

Otherwise: "clothes".

"I have a lot of clothes, too many clothes."

Okay?

"I need new clothes."

Continuing on, I've separated the second part of this video into three sections.

One: leg stuff; two: other stuff; three: other other stuff.

By the way, "leg stuff" is not a technical term at all, but stick with me.

So, basically anything that you can, like, pull up on your legs, like the pants that

I had and I no longer have, you can use in a permanent plural.

Okay?

So, what are some examples of leg stuff, things you can put on your legs?

One, very general: "pants".

Okay?

You can say: "I need new pants."

If you want to count pants or any of the other things I'm going to talk about related to

clothes, you can also say: "I need a new pair".

So, "a pair" means two.

Now, again, legs have...

Leg stuff, pants, jeans, etc., you have two legs and you put one and then the other, so

this is a pair.

So you can say: "I need a new pair of pants", or "a new pair of jeans", or "a new pair of

shorts", for example.

And you can also just say: "I need new pants", "new shorts", "new jeans", "new overalls".

If you don't know what "overalls" are, I've drawn you a little picture.

If you know Super Mario Brothers, Super Mario and Luigi wear overalls.

A lot of, you know, people who work in factories have to wear clothes that cover their whole

bodies from the legs all the way up, these are overalls.

"Leggings", so leggings and "tights", these are very similar.

When you think of leggings, think of tights.

You might think of a Shakespearean theatre, a Shakespearean play where the actors wear

really tight, tight, tight, thin layers of pants to cover their legs, and usually they

cover your feet as well.

Right?

So, yeah, leggings, tights.

And "shorts".

Now, you might be thinking: "Well, Alex, what about that other thing that you put underneath

your clothes that you're wearing?" that I'm wearing now, which is underwear.

Okay?

Underwear is an exception to this rule.

We don't say, you know: "underwears" all the time, it's just "underwear" without a plural.

Okay?

But you still say: "two pairs of underwear", "three pairs of underwear", but just there's

no "s" on the end of it.

Okay?

So, just for pronunciation, just repeat after me with these words, guys: "pants", "jeans",

"overalls", "shorts", "tights", "leggings".

All right, continuing on with this, you can also say with other stuff that: "You need

new", or "You need a new pair of scissors."

You use scissors to cut-right?-in school, or at home.

Or: "a new pair of glasses".

So, I have a pair of glasses here.

Obviously these are not mine because they do not fit my face, but this is a pair of

glasses.

Right?

So, you don't say: "one glass".

They are always "glasses".

They are permanently plural.

Okay?

And I'm not going to break these so the person they belong to won't kill me, it would be

nice.

Okay.

And finally, other other stuff: The word "thanks".

So "thanks" is a noun.

We don't say "thank".

You can say: "Thank you", that's totally fine, but if you're just saying: "Thanks" or you

want to use it as a noun as in you give thanks for something or you say thanks for something,

you don't say: "Give thank" or "Say thank".

You give thanks.

You say: "Thanks".

Okay.

All right, guys, I'm actually getting a little cold now so I think it's time to wrap up this

video.

So, if you want to test your understanding of everything we've discussed here today,

as always, you can check out the quiz on www.engvid.com and you can also subscribe to my YouTube channel,

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So, till next time, thanks for clicking.

Pants.

I need my pants.