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As it is said, we use one (singular) and ones (plural) to avoid unnecessary repetition. But why can't we use one in the following sentences:

  1. He used to work for a finance company, but he's moved to an insurance company. Why can't we say insurance one?

  2. On one channel was a war film and on the other was a horror film, so I turned the TV off. Why can't we say horror one?

Laurel
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Mahnaz
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3 Answers3

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M. Swan, Practical English Usage, 4th edition:

182 one (substitute word): a big one

8 noun modifiers

One(s) is not generally used after noun modifiers. Do you need coffee cups or tea cups? ( not . . . or tea ones?)

PS Sorry, failed to edit the post to make it look nice.

YETYland
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    Welcome to the site. I'm not sure I follow; can you explain a bit more? Please take a moment to [tour] the site and see the [help]. – livresque Jan 08 '21 at 02:51
  • Thanks for the welcoming words. According to Michael Swan, nouns that are modified by other nouns are not usually replaced by the substitute word ONE(s). In other words, we don't use ONE(s) to substitute for a noun that is accompanied by an attribute expressed by another noun. Say: coffee cups or tea cups? Don't say: coffee cups or *tea ones? – YETYland Apr 25 '21 at 22:46
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I would say that we cannot because 'insurance company' and 'horror film' are both compound nouns (nouns of two or more words), so we destroy the noun when we replace the second word with 'one'. We can say "Do you prefer to use a black pen or a blue one?" because 'blue pen' is not a compound noun; it is simply an adjective modifying a one word noun, so we can replace the noun 'pen' with 'one' because it is replacing the whole noun, not just a part of it. Would you like to watch an old horror film or a new one?

Krakocaster
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The reasons are different for the two examples.

Finance Company and Insurance Company

The reason you wouldn't use "one" in this scenario is they are compound nouns. An "insurance company" is two words for one thing. "Insurance" isn't an adjective describing "company" but is a noun being used in coordination with the noun "company" to form the compound noun "insurance company." The same is true of "finance." The adjective form of the word is "financial," but the noun "finance" is being used with the noun "company" to form the compound noun "finance company." You would no more break up the compound noun "insurance company" to say "insurance one" than you would break up the compound noun "firetruck" to say "fireone."

War Film and Horror Film

You actually could use "one" with these terms, but the way you structured it makes it confusing. It's not clear that "one" means "film" there if you say "horror one," especially since earlier in the sentence you say "on 'one' channel," making "one" sound like it maybe means "channel," like "horror one" could mean "horror channel." It's not that people couldn't figure it out, but needing to makes the phrasing awkward. Anyway, that's why most people wouldn't use "one" after "horror" in that sentence, because it's not clear. Here are some example of how it would be used:

  • "There were two films on, a war one and a horror one."
  • "There was a war film on ABC and a horror film CBS. I watched the horror one."
Billy
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    What else can people infer from "horror one"? since you said it isn't clear? – Mahnaz Jul 02 '18 at 07:20
  • As I explained, you start the sentence with "On 'one' channel..." The natural inclination would therefore be that "one" later on would refer to a channel, not a movie. Granted, most people would be able to work out what you meant, but needing to work it out makes the phrasing not just unclear but also awkward. That's why most people would never say that sentence. See my examples for how "one" could be used in reference to those films. – Billy Jul 02 '18 at 07:24