the weapon[s]

Question

0Cluster munitions, which break apart in flight to scatter hundreds of smaller bomblets, are what the International Committee of the Red Cross calls a "persistent humanitarian problem."02br02br00Most of a cluster bomb's bomblets are meant to explode on impact, but many do not. Estimates show the 01b00weapons02b00 fail to explode on impact between 10 and 40 percent of the time, the Red Cross says.02br02br01a05000 02a02br02br00Can I replace the plural weapons with the singular to mean the type of weapon in this context?02br02br00Thanks in advance!0230hrefhttp://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/05/28/uk.cluster.bomb/index.html

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

0 .02br
00 The singular seems inconsistent here; the previous sentence uses the plural.0-

Avangi · Answer

0I would say no.02br
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00The "weapon" here is one "cluster bomb." The percentage of "weapons" which fail to explode on impact refers to the hundreds of smaller bomblets. Let's say one cluster bomb comprises 300 bomblets. Lets say that 25% of those bomblets do not explode. That means there are 75 bomblets lying around on the ground waiting for kids to accidently detonate them.02br
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00I don't know, N2g. I suppose technically you could, since the term "weapon" is not used in the sentence to refer to the cluster bomb, but only to the "bomblets." Yes, okay, go for it!02br
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00 - A.0-

English maven · Answer

0I agree with Mister Micawber. Changing 01i00weapons02i00 to the singular would be inconsistent, since the previous sentence is plural.0-

New2grammar · Answer

0Before your reply, I was quite certain the weapons referred to cluster bombs, not their bomblets. Could you help me understand why the weapons refer to the bomblets instead of the bombs themselves in this context? 0-

English maven · Answer

0"Most of a cluster bomb's 01b00bomblets02b00 are meant to explode on impact, but many do not." This sentence indicates that the author is talking about the bomb's bomblets, if I'm not mistaken.0-

Avangi · Answer

0I wrote a whole ****** edit on that subject but they zapped it.  Dang!  CSO = cheerfully start over.0-

New2grammar · Answer

0Avangi, I feel your pain. After experiencing that several times, I keep my edit short or just create a new post to avoid the problem though it may not be elegant. But it saves a lot of time 050010id1

Avangi · Answer

0"Cluster munitions, which break apart in flight to scatter hundreds of smaller bomblets" - You might say it "deploys." No doubt explosives are involved in scattering the bomblets.02br
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00The cluster bomb ceases to exist as a unit, long before any bomblets hit the ground. How many bomblets would have to explode to enable us to say "the cluster bomb exploded"? One? All 300? What would it mean to say the cluster bomb fails to explode 20% of the time?02br
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00When I read MrM's post, I wasn't sure if he was referring to "cluster munitions" or "bomblets" or both, when he spoke of the plural being used in the first sentence. I usually hear "cluster munitions" in the plural used to describe the class of weapons. Why plural, is debatable. In the second sentence we have "a cluster bomb . . " 02br
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00If "cluster munitions" in plural can describe a class, then so can "weapons" in plural. I'm inclined to yield to MrM's point that to switch to singular would sound a little strange.02br
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00In my opinion there's no way to tell whether "weapons" in the last sentence refers to the class or the collection of bomblets - or if there's even a difference. I guess if you switch to singular, it would have to be the class. If I say, "Wild berries are usually not poisonous," is that a class??02br
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00 - A.02br
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00Edit. Ah yes, Yoong, I believe you're right. Thanks. I must be more wary. (funny thing, I always say "accidently.")0-

New2grammar · Answer

0Thanks Avangi. So, either is fine though the plural is preferred because the previous sentence is in plural.02br
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00Wild berries are usually not poisonous. (I don't know -If you asked 'Strawberries' or some other type of berries, I would say it's not a class. For it to be a class, 'the ' is required, the strawberry, etc)0-

Avangi · Answer

0Thanks, N2g. I was starting to get confused. Now it's clear why you wanted to switch to singular. Surely this would be acceptable, bearing MrM's caveat in mind.02br
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00So I would probably need to say, "The wild berry is usually not poisonous."02br
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00Also, I was just noticing a word in your excerpt: 01b01i01u00Most02u02i02b00 of the bomblets are meant to explode on contact. I wonder if that means some are 01b00intended 01u00not02u02b00 to explode.02br
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00 - A.0-

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