When saying to someone 'I like your pants' is that incorrect adding the 's' on? If so, why has it become acceptable and if it is correct what is it called? Is it that 'possessive' rule?

Someone bought it up the other week and I faintly remember adding an 's' can indicate possession but I'm not sure if my mind is making that up.

Cheers.

The thread title is funny

Its "sentence" not "sentance"

its like socks, shoes, shirts, etc etc.
Damn, reason just slipped my mind, i'm sure it will come back.

isn't it the ' after the s that shows possesion?

's after a a person's name shows possesion, or s' for more than 1.
eg:
The girl's shoes. (one girl)
The girls' shoes. (more than 1 girl)

s is just plural. so by saying pants with an s is plural, but i think its a bit a slang not being technically correct...well, pants have 2 legs so i dunno.

maybe thats the word, its not a plural as such.
Ie, you never hear people saying "i only have one pant clean" or "one trouser clean". Perhaps the actual word is spelt with an s.

miss 626, you are close. 's is posession, ie. henry's pants.

s' is if their name ends in an s ie. chris' pants.

and yes, Quid is correct, its the actual word, not anything to do woth posession.

miss626 is perfectly correct - if you are talking about a group of girls, and their shoes, then they are correctly referred to as "the girls' shoes"
and trism, you are also correct, if a person's name ends with an 's', then you place a ' after their name (like you have shown) to indicate possession.

and yes, it is just the word, not a plural-
pants = 1
pants = many

similar to sheep can mean singular and plural

Are we all starting to see why english is a really f***@d up language to learn?

although, is the singular pants or pant?

you say a pair of pants (singular).

but, you also refer to a pant leg (singular).

hmmm. . .

- Stooge007 out

does that mean each leg is a pant, and the the whole thing together, becuase there is 2 is a pair of pants

TEGBOY It's "It's", not "Its"
Whether it is a pair of 'pants', or just a 'pant', has nothing to do with grammar at all, it's about common usage and appropriation of terms. When words enter the common vernacular, they inevitably get legitimised by being placed in the dictionary. Beyond that however, I'd say that ONE leg of the 'pants' is a 'pant' leg, and both legs together form 'pants'.
In regards to plurals and usage, when there is more than one boy, you'd say "the boys' hats". If there is one boy in particular, it is "that boy's hat"; or so I believe.

no. Its like saying "why is apple spelt like that. Does that mean half an apple is spelt "appl".

Its just the word. Forget about plurals and ownership, the word just happens to end with an "s".

its obvious. Har har.

im sorry Quid, but that makes no sense....

appl would be 4/5ths of an apple. ap would be 2/5ths and app would be 3/5ths, so truely you can never have "half" and apple....

Agreed. The internet and grammar/spelling do NOT go hand in hand

DOES not. Not do not.

teh sorta stuff int his thred dusnt worri me thatmuch its wen ppl type wit there feet n there eyes closd in half SMS n half LEET HAXZOR TALK that are so bad it rly hard to work out wot there sayin

Pffft, I don't care too much about spelling of my title - I always spell sentence wrong when enquiring about English.

I was just curious at that word.

EDIT: Typos

Matt, does and do are both gramatically correct

And according to the latest edition of the Oxford Dictionary, so is Cobba and txting!! We are seriously on a downhill slope here

so is "don't"

the only time i care about my grammar and spelling is when i was in school when i had to...and oh, official stuff like resumes.

anyother time, sms or on here or msn etc....abbreviate abbriate abb...

Here's one for you:
What is the multiple of Beetroot? Beetreet, beetroot's or other.

Personally I think it should be beetri

It's like sheep, the plural is just beetroot. It doesn't change I don't think.

The plural of Sheep is Beetroot????

lol

beetroot is just stuff, like honey, or butter.

if you have a selection of different beetroots, then that's how you would use it.

the 's' can be to indicate contraction (it's a contraction) or posessive (Simon's contraction) or plural (pants come in pairs)

if there's just one, it's a pant leg, as in pantaloon.

er, let me guess.... a floating pant leg???

Pant/s is short for Pantaloon

You wanted me to look at this thread

Midol, after that last comment I know where you can place a beetroot

Ohhhh, I know Beetroot is a vegetable. I love it in a salad sammy but I thought perhaps I was mislead all my life and it has an alternative meaning

I find it interesting that pants are refered to as a "pair of pants" (or slacks or jeans or trowsers or shorts or speedos or undies or or or) when there's only one of them. I believe its reference to the fact there's 2 legs in each pair..

Anyway, I believe the S is added onto the end of a reference to two legged wear as there are two legs so it is pluralised. Where as a skirt only has one "leg" so its a skirt, not a skirts.. skirts are two or more of the item.

hahaha, someone tear their pants inhalf and walk down the street in a pant. Ho Ho Ho. Too funny.

some people i know are skirts.....

Ah see, PEOPLE (plural) are SKIRTS (plural). A PERSON (singular) is a SKIRT (singular).



I prefer the term panty-waste myself

the pant vs pants debate has been fierce amongst me and my mates on several occassions (all involving litres of beer, and sometimes other things )

i'm a staunch pants guy.

e.g. dude, you spilled beer on your pants

vs.

dude, you spilled beer on your pant

???

- Stooge007 out

What about a Bra? You don't wear a pair of bras, and bra is short for Brassiere, which is also singular. And there are two things for a bra to hold. Also shirt, you have 2 arms, but only wear one shirt?

Lousy english!!

I dont care about bra's, and not a lot of my shirts have sleeves

Dogs pant.. you dont wear dogs breath.

ohh i dunno, i know alot of skirts, but i also know alot of people who need to be introduced to Mr. Soap......

But if he only spilt the beer on one pant, then he spilt beer on his pant?

no, he spilt it on his leg......

But what if it didn't touch his leg?

For example, I have a shade cloth. If I spill vodka on it but it never hits the ground then it wasn't spilt on the ground was it?

no it was spilt on the shade cloth......

but whgats your point....its not a "pant" its a pants leg

i spilt the beer all over my pants leg

But I thought we established pant was a length of cloth covering a single leg. Pant leg would be redundant wouldn't it? Sort of like ATM Machine???

No. Pant has multiple meanings defined by its context.

Ie, my pant leg is broken
Damn, your mother pant's like a ....

hmmm. . .

pant2 (pnt) Pronunciation Key
n.
Trousers. Often used in the plural.

- Stooge007 out

pant leg 
a leg of a pair of pants.
Also called pant.

[Origin: 1955–60]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

It's easy for me, I never use the word 'pants'.

And I hit anyone within arms length if they use 'hood' or 'trunk' when talking about car parts in Australia
Plenty of other Americanised things crap me off too.

Be an in-de-vegetable FFS.