Some pieces of clothing only have a plural form and cannot be preceded by a/an, including jeans, leggings, overalls, pajamas, panties, shorts, underpants, etc.
Some pieces of clothing only have a plural form and cannot be preceded by a/an, including:
- Jeans
- Knickers (British English)
- Leggings
- Overalls
- Pajamas
- Panties
- Pants
- Shorts
- Tights (British English)
- Trousers (British English)
- Underpants
They cannot be used with numbers or the article a/an.
I recently went to buy jeans.
I recently went to buy a jeans.
If you need to count these items, you can use the expressions "a pair of", "two pairs of", etc.
Last week I found three pairs of tights that fit me perfectly.
We always use a plural form of a verb with these nouns; for example, we say "clothes are" or "leggings are" (not "leggings is").
Are my leggings in the drawer?
Is my leggings in the drawer?
The noun underwear is uncountable and cannot be used with the article "a".
You should put your underwear on.
You should put an underwear on.
Because "clothes" is a plural noun, there's no singular form of "clothes". Nevertheless, you can use the expressions "a piece of clothing", "an article of clothing", or "a garment". The noun cloth has an entire different meaning. A cloth is a piece of fabric that is often used for dusting or cleaning. The plural form of "cloth" is cloths (not "clothes").
To refer to a pair of gloves, shoes, or socks, we use the plural form of these words.
Put your socks on before your shoes.
To count more than one set of these items, you can use the expression "a pair of", "two pairs of", etc.
I need to buy a new pair of gloves.
But you can use "a" to refer to a single piece (glove, sock, or shoe).
Yesterday I found a glove under the couch.
