Which is correct?
- Sheila and Angie are wearing the same shirt today.
- Sheila and Angie are wearing the same shirts today.
- Sheila and Angie are wearing same shirts today.
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Mari-Lou A
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2nd is correct. – aarbee Sep 15 '13 at 06:52
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11I beg to differ. The first one is correct. This is a common idiom. It is understood that Sheila and Angie could not be wearing the same, actual, physical shirt, so in this way of saying things, "the same shirt" refers to their two individual, exact copies of the shirt. "The same shirts" would be correct only if they were both going to change shirts a number of times, and each time use an exact copy. – John M. Landsberg Sep 15 '13 at 07:10
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@JohnM.Landsberg Couldn't have said it better. You should post it as an answer. – mikhailcazi Sep 18 '13 at 14:04
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Related: "I'm driving the same car." – RegDwigнt Sep 18 '13 at 19:37
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@mikhailcazi Thanks for the suggestion. I have now done so. :) – John M. Landsberg Sep 18 '13 at 19:42
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1#1 might also mean they are sharing a shirt. When I hear the sentence that is what I want to be true. – RyeɃreḁd Sep 18 '13 at 19:57
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1@RyeBread LOL. I like that. It does, however, leave open the question of what the one sans shirt is (not?) wearing. Maybe that's what we like about it. ;) – John M. Landsberg Sep 18 '13 at 22:13
2 Answers
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The first one is correct. This is a common idiom. It is understood that Sheila and Angie could not be wearing the same, actual, physical shirt, so in this way of saying things, "the same shirt" refers to their two individual, exact copies of the shirt.
As for the second choice, "the same shirts" would be correct only if they were both going to change shirts a number of times, and each time use an exact copy.
The third choice has no article modifying "same shirts," and so it is not grammatically correct.
John M. Landsberg
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"The same shirts" can only be correct if the girls are each wearing more than one shirt.
Probably, "the same shirt" is correct, because you're referring to one specific shirt that appears in two places.
pulverize
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