How much ____ this pair of shoes?

[diamondcutter]

How much ____ this pair of shoes?
A. is B. are
I think A is the correct choice. Am I right?
Thanks.

 

[SoothingDave]

One pair. Singular. Is.

 

[Tdol]

Yes. Singular and plural can be difficult to sort out, but I can't see that much of a case can be made for the plural here.

 

[MikeNewYork]

I can't see any case for the plural here.

 

[Matthew Wai]

Why can't the plural 'shoes' be a case?

Not a teacher.

 

[MikeNewYork]

Because the subject is "a pair".

 

[Matthew Wai]

'A group of us is/are going to the theatre this evening.'── quoted from http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/group_1
It seems that the plural may be acceptable to some people.

Not a teacher.

 

[MikeNewYork]

In that sentence, yes. But that is not a pair of shoes. We buy shoes as a pair. It is always a single item. We don't normally buy a shoe.

 

[MikeNewYork]

There are other similar items: a pair of glasses, a pair of pants, a pair of shorts, a pair of socks, etc.

 

[Tdol]

I can't see any case for the plural here.

I'm a BrE speaker and consequently very tolerant of singular/plural issues, so I would hesitate to go that far and will stop at 99.9%. :-D

 

[MikeNewYork]

It's a cultural thing.

 

[SoothingDave]

The "this" is a clue, too. If plural, it would be "these."

"How much are these shoes?" is possible. But "a pair" is one thing, as stated above.

 

[MikeNewYork]

That would also work for "these glasses" and "these pants". But not with a pair.