carry a mobile phone/mobile phones

[Winwin2011]

A. What things do we need to bring when we go hiking?
B. We need to bring a flashlight, a mobile phone and some water.
C. We need to bring flashlights, mobile phones and some water.

Are sentences B and C both natural ?

Thanks.

 

[Barb_D]

Do you want each person to have his or her own flashlight and phone?
(Places I've hiked don't have much in the way of cell reception. I'm not sure how much good they'll do.)

 

[Winwin2011]

Do you want each person to have his or her own flashlight and phone?
(Places I've hiked don't have much in the way of cell reception. I'm not sure how much good they'll do.)

Thanks, Barb_D.

Yes, I want each person to have his or her own flashlight and phone.

How do we reply the following context?

1.What things do we need to bring when we go hiking? (The teacher asked her students in a classroom?)
2.What things do we need to bring when we go hiking? (Tom is going hiking with his father. He asked his father.)

Thanks again.

 

[bhaisahab]

Thanks, Barb_D.

Yes, I want each person to have his or her own flashlight and phone.

How do we reply the following context?

1.What things do we need to bring when we go hiking? (The teacher asked her students in a classroom?)
2.What things do we need to bring when we go hiking? (Tom is going hiking with his father. He asked his father.)

Thanks again.

C. We need to bring flashlights, mobile phones and some water.

 

[Rover_KE]

In the UK, most of us take those things with us—not bring them.

Rover

 

[BobK]

...
(Places I've hiked don't have much in the way of cell reception. I'm not sure how much good they'll do.)

But don't some mobiles have GPS, Barb? I don't know, but as long as the phone can 'see' a GPS satellite, I wouldn't have thought coverage by the cellular network was that relevant. :-?

b

PS Perhpas a mobile receives GPS inormation via the sellular network though... In that case, maybe you need a satellite phone.

 

[Barb_D]

Right--You still need the cell tower.

There are times with the distributed plurals when common sense helps you. We have only one head each, one life each, etc.

In this case, using the word "each" would provide clarity.

 

[Winwin2011]

A kid is going hiking with his father tomorrow.

'What things do we need to bring when we go hiking, Dad?', asked the kid.

We suppose the Kid does not have a cell phone. Only the kid's father has a cell phone and flashlight. Is it natural for the kid's father to say 'We need to bring a cell phone and flashlight'. If he says, 'We need to bring cell phones and flashlights', does it imply the kid's father would bring two phones and two flashlights or more?

Many thanks again.

 

[Tdol]

If you're only taking one of each, the singular is more logical.

 

[emsr2d2]

It really depends on what is required for the hiking trip. If it's just a father and his son going hiking, I would expect the following exchange:

Child: What do we need to take when we go hiking?
Father: A cellphone, a flashlight and some water.
Child: But I don't have a cellphone.
Father: No, it's OK, I have one.
Child: I do have a flashlight. Shall I bring it
Father: Yes, it will be good to have two just in case the batteries run out in one of them.

I think the plural sounds very unnatural when it's just two people discussing what they're going to take. I wouldn't expect them to talk about what they're taking collectively, I would expect them to refer to what each of them needs to bring, and neither one of them is going to bring more than one flashlight or more than one cellphone.