It is difficult to confuse the left and right boots and put them on the wrong foot. To do this, you must be either very small, or absolutely insane.
But when the shoes appear in oral or written language, sometimes they are tight with them. Those who had such a choice — a pair of boots or a pair of boots — should put a pair of socks under them, a pair of trousers on top, put a pair of scissors in your pocket and go in search of the correct answers. In the article, we will consider how to inflect the word "boot" in the genitive case.
A pair of boots or boots? What do the rules of the Russian language say
The initial form of the noun is important here (case is nominative, number is singular). When it ends in a solid consonant, their ending in the genitive plural: s.
For instance:
- orange - oranges;
- computer - computers;
- fly agaric - fly agaric.
So, right - a pair of boots? Or a boot anyway?
This rule, like any other, has its exceptions. That is, the same nouns with a solid consonant at the end, which in the genitive plural will have a zero (no) ending.
For instance:
- I put on (what?) One stocking - I did not buy (what?) New stockings.
Thus, these words in the two indicated forms completely coincide. Here lies the answer to the question, how to: a pair of boots or a pair of boots? This is also an exception. In the singular - the lost boot, in the plural - a variety of boots.
Same thing with the word (one) boot. In the plural of the genitive, he did not find his shoes.
Other exceptions
Cases from the table apply to nouns that do not obey the rule.
Exception case | Examples of use |
The name in the collective sense of people belonging to a particular nationality | Live among Armenians. Learn Georgians. Love the Tatars. Respect Ossetians. |
The name of the military, belonging to certain compounds (for which the use is predominantly in the plural) | The squad midshipman won the battle. A group of partisans hid in the forest. A small part of the soldiers survived. |
The word "man" | A lot of people crowded in the hallway. |
Paired Item Names (the studied case belongs to this group, and we can conclude how to speak without error: a pair of boots or boots) | I have not forgotten your eyes. Did not stain clean cuffs. Spoiled a couple of stockings. Lost his epaulettes. Proud of the beauty of the epaulette. I cleaned a pair of boots. I tried on more than one pair of shoes. |
Units of measure and measures (feature: when they are not called for counting, then the form of the Genitive case of the plural with the ending -s is used. | On the board it says: "500 watts." Got a blow at 220 volts. The current strength is 5 amperes. Designed for 1,000 gigabytes. I will save you extra pounds. I sorely lack gigabytes. |
Boots, socks, trousers. And scissors in your pocket
In order not to “flaunt” illiteracy, one must clearly remember the right choice: a pair of boots or boots? Of course the first.
There is still an interesting question about what is above the boots. About trousers. You won’t immediately answer how much it is: a pair of trousers. You’ll think about it. If both socks worn under trousers and boots are paired items, then the pants, it seems, are not.
But colloquial speech means a thing with this word, if it consists of two identical parts. It turns out that a pair of trousers is one thing. Like a pair of scissors - these are just scissors, which, say, are in the pocket of your pants.
If you type on a computer, then, of course, it will underline the incorrect word “boots”. But if you work with a pen or pencil, you need to know how to write a pair of boots or a pair of boots? The same is in oral speech, where a competent interlocutor can also emphasize a mistake, of course, but it would be better not to allow it.