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Let's say we are categorizing people in a photograph. Which of these is correct?

  1. Artists with hats
  2. Artists with a hat

No artist has multiple hats.

The first option sounds better to my ear, but I'm not sure. Is either one definitely wrong? Why? Is there a name for this rule?

To make my example, a full sentence, I might say: "Please identify the artists with hats."

sondra.kinsey
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    This aspect of grammar is called the distributive plural. There is an answer to a similar question here: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/301625/theyre-using-a-cell-phone-vs-theyre-using-cell-phones/302499#302499 – Shoe Jan 01 '19 at 10:27
  • To disambiguate the sentence you could write: Please identify the artists wearing a hat. – Shoe Jan 01 '19 at 10:40
  • Bringing artists into the picture complicates things. – Lawrence Jan 01 '19 at 10:42
  • Artists, each with a hat. – Jason Bassford Jan 01 '19 at 11:51

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