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