I have read the following sentence in an exercise book written by a non-native speaker:

Wilson has bought two trousers.

I know that it is very common to say "Wilson has bought two pairs of trousers". But is the sentence from the exercise book acceptable to native speakers?


As a native speaker this sounds a bit unusual to me, as in other constructions with nouns that only exist in the plural e.g. "scissors" or "googles." Perhaps one reason is that we don't like to use the adjective "two" with a noun unless we can use the adjective "one," and saying things like "one scissors" sounds strange because the adjective is singular and the noun is plural.


I bought some pants (AmE). OK [This is said]

I bought some trousers (BrE) OK [This is said]

I bought a pair of pants. [note the a unless you are responding to someone, who says something like: How many was that? Then, we say: I bought one pair of pants or trousers. The same with all things like this: I saw a car I liked. Not: I saw one car I liked, unless you are clarifying] OK

I bought a pair of trousers (Watch that a :). OK

I bought two (or three or four) pairs of trousers or pants.

That's the skinny on this. I bought two trousers is "unacceptable".

Scissors and goggles also follow this exact pattern.


See https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/9861/three-pair-vs-three-pairs

Saying "has bought two trousers" sounds very odd to my ear. "Did you buy any trousers? Yes, I bought two pair(s)." "Two pair" sounds better to me; "pair" means "two." But I'm old; current usage may favor "pairs."