EPTbut 2 imo
A pair of twins? - Page 2
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sung_moon
United States10110 Posts
but 2 imo | ||
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Musoeun
United States4324 Posts
On October 01 2009 10:42 Probe. wrote: 4 = quadruplets. Pair implies 2. Thus a pair of twins is 2 people. It wouldn't make any sense to say a pair of twins and refer to 4 people. What if i were to say 2 pairs of twins. Would you guys think that is 8 people? Obviously not. Apparently a lot of people voting here would. o.O "A pair" means two*. Thus, I've always used "a pair of twins" to mean 2 people. "A pair of twins joined the drama club" = 2 people joined. At least in my experience, no one says, "Some twins joined the drama club," since that doesn't tell you how many. You could assume two I guess. You could say, "The twins joined..." but that's a misuse of "the" since you're not actually specifying which twins are the twins. * Except in certain circumstances where it means 1, i.e. pants, scissors. | ||
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benjammin
United States2728 Posts
3. Pair of twins. Among the minor matters that engage some usage writers is the expression pair of twins. Shaw 1987 and Bremner 1980 conclude that pair of twins should not be used unless four people are meant. Bernstein 1971 pooh-poohs this view: "...in ordinary forgivable usage, a pair of twins is the customary phrase." Bernstein even finds the expression useful. It could sometimes be used for clarification, perhaps. We have a snippet from a magazine in the Merrian-Webster files that refers to a doctor surround by 8 or 10 twins. How many people would that be? Unfortunately we do not have enough of the story to be able to tell for sure. Pair of twins appears to be spoken usage, we have no evidence for it in print. | ||
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Fallen_arK
United States91 Posts
ya. All depends on the situation and context at hand. In your case. I would vote 2. Why? Because you wouldn't refer to people as pairs when they are plural. | ||
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exalted
United States3612 Posts
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Chill
Calgary26003 Posts
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alffla
Hong Kong20321 Posts
i voted 4 but after reading ther responses ....... im just confused now. :D | ||
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sith
United States2474 Posts
On October 01 2009 10:55 exalted wrote: nice way to spend your birthday OP Ahahaha it's not technically my birthday yet where I live, and what better way to spend the next day than by winning an argument? And I really like the "2 pair of twins" argument, you would NEVER take that to mean 8, so it's pretty clear cut. People just need to stop voting with their gut and read the arguments first. | ||
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Aresien
United Kingdom305 Posts
For example in a conversation you wouldn't say "Those guys, they're a pair of twins" refering to 2. You'd just say "Those guys are twins". It's definitely usable in both contexts but there's no ultimate answer really (unless there is some kind of English rule i'm not aware of). *Edit* These words are just too flexable to staple something to them, they can be used in both contexts. Something does feel wrong about referring to about 2 people as a pair of twins though. Both words times the value of something by 2. | ||
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zobz
Canada2175 Posts
Either a twin is two people, or a twin is one person which means that a pair of twins is two people. Now, use the word twin referring to two people in a sentence. "She gave birth to a twin?" And that describes her having two kids? No. Please explain to me how this can be argued further. | ||
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Jzerg
84 Posts
Grammatically, a sock = a twin = 1 two socks = two twins = 2 a pair of socks = a pair of twins = 2 two pairs of socks = two pairs of twins / two sets of twins = 4 (A set of twins / A pair of twins = 2 people) | ||
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L
Canada4732 Posts
the end. problem solved. 2. What's the alternative? A pair of twin to refer to a single twin coupling? Obviously grammatically false. | ||
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Jayme
United States5866 Posts
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MountainDewJunkie
United States10346 Posts
In terms of proper English, a pair of twins means four people total. Twins means two people, and a pair of duos is two times two is four people is two sets of twins! Pair of twins... Hey look, it's a few triplets? Wow, its a quad of quadruplets? Do you understand how stupid you have to be to think like this? | ||
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.risingdragoon
United States3021 Posts
a twin = 1, meaning 1 half part of twins twins = 2 obviously a pair of twins = 2 x twins (2) = 4 get it? | ||
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sixghost
United States2096 Posts
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alffla
Hong Kong20321 Posts
On October 01 2009 11:13 MountainDewJunkie wrote: If someone's pointing at twins (as in, just two people), to say a "pair of twins" is just poor English. There's no other kind of twins! There are obviously only two! Twins implies two! Just say, "Twins!" In terms of proper English, a pair of twins means four people total. Twins means two people, and a pair of duos is two times two is four people is two sets of twins! Pair of twins... Hey look, it's a few triplets? Wow, its a quad of quadruplets? Do you understand how stupid you have to be to think like this? no need to call people stupid, i think the other side of the argument sound pretty reasonable, right? ~_~ | ||
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LCC
Canada348 Posts
On October 01 2009 11:13 MountainDewJunkie wrote: In terms of proper English, a pair of twins means four people total. Twins means two people, and a pair of duos is two times two is four people is two sets of twins! I disagree. "Twins" on its own could refer to any number of people that have a sibling that were born at the same time as them. "One thousand twins were gathered in the crowd." It's just a plural, not a specific number. In case you didn't figure it out, I voted 2. | ||
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BalliSLife
1339 Posts
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Kennigit
Canada19447 Posts
a pair of donks = 2 a pair of balls = 2 a pair of twins = a pair of 2 guys who are identical and related and born at same time etc. I think people are tripping up the fact that twins always means two people involved. If you are saying a pair of twins is 4 people, then what is 1 twin? 2 people? No it is one person who is a member of the set. It would make more sense to say 2 sets of twins or 2 pairs of twins. | ||
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