"As I was going up the stair, I met a man who wasn't there" Shouldn't that be ' -up the stairs, I met a man who wasn't theres'?
2006-08-12 06:13:52 · 23 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
yes cos if there was only one stair then it would be a step
and that would complely bugger it up
2006-08-12 06:20:32 · answer #1 · answered by MaxD148 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Stanna Stair-lifts not withstanding, the orignal is correct. There is no other 'singlular' - one 'stair' as you put it would correctly be called a step. A stair is the series of steps that actually goes someplace. We use 'stairs' when connected in other ways...
To denote surpirse: "Well, I'll go to the foot of our stairs"
When being pluralised "The stairs all led up"
And remember Topol in Fiddler on The Roof: "There would be one long staircase just going up, and one even longer coming down"
Not - you notice 'stairscases'...
So be a poet for once.
Show some soul.
Use the language creatively and with insight.
2006-08-12 13:52:30 · answer #2 · answered by Colin A 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Stair is fine.
Chambers dictionary says:
stair
noun
1 any of a set of indoor steps connecting the floors of a building.
2 (also stairs) a set of these. below stairs in the part of the house where the servants live and work.
ETYMOLOGY: Anglo-Saxon stæger.
2006-08-12 07:40:46 · answer #3 · answered by Trish D 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
according to MY dictionary: stair=one of a series of steps for going from one level or floor to the next...OR a set of such steps...
so, i guess "as I was going up the stair, I met a man who wasn't there" could be the proper way to say that
2006-08-12 06:19:58 · answer #4 · answered by uranus2mars 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I went up the stairs but noone was there!
2 points in the bag
2006-08-12 06:16:58 · answer #5 · answered by ryn 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
No...it is phrased correctly..the man wasn't there at the top of the stair..being singular, not plural.
2006-08-12 06:18:49 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes! This is perfectly acceptable Poetic License or not.
Stair singular is acceptable in reference to a stairway.
It's lovely and poetic
'Theres' definitely doesn't work; however in the context of the poem "theirs" might be appropriate, but that's reaching.
I hope that helps! Good Luck
Live well, laugh often & Love Much
2006-08-12 09:51:17 · answer #7 · answered by communion6 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Rhymes don't have to make sense :) - yes it is allowed, there may only have been 1 stair
2006-08-12 13:07:50 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's obviously a rhyming problem. "Stairs" is often used in the plural, but it need not be and it isn't always.
2006-08-12 06:22:46 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
nooo!
it's what Stephen Fry calls a "wrenched rhyme" - a word is banjaxed purely to make it rhyme with something else.
But where I come from "up the stair" might be said by quite a few people
2006-08-12 06:15:04 · answer #10 · answered by wild_eep 6 · 4⤊ 0⤋