One headquarters

Question:

I recently came across this sentence:

• The command centre comprises six regions and one headquarters.

However, one headquarters sounds odd to me. Is this correct?

Answer:

Although it may sound odd, one headquarters is grammatically correct since it is a count noun and can be modified by any number, including one.

Try rephrasing your sentence to make it sound more natural. For example,

• The command centre comprises six regions and a (national) headquarters.

  OR

  . . . six regions and their (national) headquarters.

  OR

  . . . six regions and its (national) headquarters.

  OR

  . . . a headquarters and six regions.