Use of singular/plural

[fluidity]

Calling All English Mavens!

I recently enjoyed visiting a "Brainteasers" website and added one of my own of which I do not have the answer to. Hope you can help! Here it goes - You have 2 pens and you give me 1. If I then ask you "How many PENS do you have?" most people will say "1". Is this response correct? Should you say "1 PEN" or "I have 1 PEN". I asked "How many PENS (plural) do you have? It's grammatically incorrect (I think) for me to say "How many PEN (singular) do you have?" knowing you have only 1 PEN. Is the confusion in how the questioned is asked or how it is answered?
I can think of many other examples such as this.
How do the singular/plural English rules apply here?

Thanks!

 

[SoothingDave]

Yes, the response is correct. We ask questions using the plural all the time when a plural answer is not unexpected.

That is, asking "how many pens do you have?" is not an unusual question.

We would probably ask "do you own a house?" and not "how many houses do you own?" cause most people only own one house. If that.

 

[emsr2d2]

Well, I've learnt a new word today - maven. I had to look it up. It's shown as "North American" usage which explains why I, as a BrE speaker, didn't know it.

 

[fluidity]

Well, I've learnt a new word today - maven. I had to look it up. It's shown as "North American" usage which explains why I, as a BrE speaker, didn't know it.

Give me a little more of an explanation. What are the English "rules"/"mechanics" behind this. Can I look them up? Because we use the plural all the time does it make it correct? You have 1 pen, why do we pluralize it (or whatever it may be) when asking, making it more than 1?

 

[emsr2d2]

The point of the question "How many pens do you have?" is that you need to know the answer. You do not already know that the person only has one pen. If you already knew they only had one pen, you would not need to ask the question.

How many pens do you have?
I have one pen.

How many pens do you have?
I have six pens?

It doesn't matter what the answer is, the question is always the same.

 

[Rover_KE]

If you're teaching a child to count and holding up a number of fingers, asking him 'How many fingers can you see?', even if you know the answer is 'one', the question is the same.

 

[fluidity]

touche all! but ...

 

[emsr2d2]

touche all! but ...

What is that supposed to mean?

 

[fluidity]

Think about it.

 

[emsr2d2]

I've thought about it. I have better things to think about. Please explain it.