双语有声阅读 | Scissors没有单数形式

2020-07-01 20:21:29  每日学英语
The Word “Scissors” is a Defective Noun

“Scissors”这个词是个有瑕疵的名词

In English, there are a few nouns that only have a plural form.

在英语中,有一些名词只有复数形式。

The word “scissors” is one example.

“剪刀”一词就是一个例子。

There is no singular form of this word and it requires plural agreement.

这个单词并没有单数形式,主谓一致时是复数的一致。

For example: The scissors are on the table. To make this tool singular, you have to use “a pair of scissors”.

例如:剪刀(scissors are)在桌子上。要使用这个单词的单数形式,您必须使用“a pair of scissors”。

Other words that don’t have a singular form are “pants”, “shorts”, “glasses (eyeglasses)”, “goggles”, “panties” and “boxers”.

其他没有单数形式的词是“裤子”,“短裤”,“眼镜(护目镜)”,“护目镜”,“内裤”和“平角裤”。

The Latin word for this concept is “plurale tantum”, which means plural only. Some wordsmiths prefer the term “defective nouns”.

这个概念的拉丁词源是plurale tantum,意思是只有复数。有些作家更喜欢使用有缺陷的名词。

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