Kirk Mahoney . com

I heard this from someone the other day.

Problem:
The word “ones” is unnecessary in this phrase.

Explanation:
The individual said a sentence such as (quote) “Those ones are bigger.” (unquote).

The word “those” in the phrase (quote) “Those ones …” (unquote) is acting as a determiner.

Other examples of “those” as a determiner include:

• (quote) “I like those chocolates.” (unquote)
• (quote) “Do you want those tickets?” (unquote)
• (quote) “He should give her those flowers.” (unquote)

Also, it is possible to pluralize the singular numerical pronoun “one”, as in the following examples:

• (quote) “I like the vanilla ones.” (unquote)
• (quote) “The ones in green are tickets for the front row.” (unquote)
• (quote) “Are the pink flowers the ones that he wants?” (unquote)

However, when the word “ones” is preceded by a plural determiner (such as “those”), it is best to drop the word “ones”, thereby converting the determiner “these” into a demonstrative pronoun, as shown in the following examples:

• (quote) “I like those.” (unquote)
• (quote) “Do you want those?” (unquote)
• (quote) “He should give her those.” (unquote)

Solution:
“Those …”