Headline: Russia's New 'Experimental' Missile(s) Send a Message to NATO

[Novelis]

Hello, this is a very minor complaint, but it has been niggling at me ever since the article popped up on the main page of sott.net.

In the headline: "Russia's New 'Experimental' Missile(s) Send a Message to NATO", the word "missile" has an 's' bracketed at the end, thus leaving the actual number of missiles fired ambiguous, but this creates a slight grammatical problem for the verb "send", since if it's "Missile" in the singular, then it should say:

Russia's New 'Experimental' Missile Sends a Message to NATO

While if it's "Missiles" in the plural, then it should read:

Russia's New 'Experimental' Missiles Send a Message to NATO

Therefore, to be consistent, the headline should really say:

Russia's New 'Experimental' Missile(s) Send(s) a Message to NATO

However, this looks silly, so after a bit of thought, I recommend avoiding the problem altogether simply by changing the headline into:

Russia Sends a Message to NATO with New 'Experimental' Missile(s)

Hope this helps.

 

[JGeropoulas]

I sympathize with your "curse" of being a grammar/spelling nerd . I agree, your first alternative is preferable, where "experimental missile" can refer to a singular class or type of missile. The number of this type missile fired is a thought that can be conveyed in a follow-up sentence.

 

[JGeropoulas]

Grammar aside, here's the real significance of those missiles/that missile

 

[Novelis]

umm... it's "Russia can choose to respond with precision kinetic strikes on western targets without resorting to nuclear ICBMs..."

This is fun, it's like a quiz!

I agree, your first alternative is preferable, where "experimental missile" can refer to a singular class or type of missile.

Jokes aside, I was slightly confused when you said "first alternative", since I didn't offer more than one, which was

Russia Sends a Message to NATO with New 'Experimental' Missile(s)

Perhaps I was unclear, but the first three explications of the headline...

1. Russia's New 'Experimental' Missile Sends a Message to NATO
2. Russia's New 'Experimental' Missiles Send a Message to NATO
3. Russia's New 'Experimental' Missile(s) Send(s) a Message to NATO

...weren't suggestions/alternatives, but just examples of the grammatical explanation that preceded them, like how a dictionary provides an example for the definition. That being said, I agree with you that the first one (labelled number 1 above) works too, and I also like your idea that:

The number of this type missile fired is a thought that can be conveyed in a follow-up sentence.

It really depends on the intention of the author and what they are trying to convey with the headline. Is the author trying to insinuate that there might be more missiles "waiting in the wings" if the US doesn't back down? Is the author leaving the amount of missiles ambiguous because we're not very sure exactly how many were fired, or maybe the author was trying to leave the nature of the missile(s) ambiguous, whether it's a plasma/conventional weapon?

I didn't want to assume anything, but these are the possibilities that enter my "cursed head" whenever there is even a slight error in grammar/spelling. This is why I suggested what I did (highlighted above in bold), because it doesn't change the meaning of the headline, unless it did, in which case the author/others more in the know can let me know.

Thanks for your insights and suggestions.

 

[Evan]

There’s a grammar rant thread that you may find fun for expanding your game.

A word of advice: don’t mix up “imply” and “infer” around @Laura . She’ll scratch your eyes right out!

Be impeccable