Omitting words
Hi, there

I have a question about omission in English. Do these sentences sound strange?

A. (in a store): I’ll take three HDs. One 250gb and two 500gb

B. (in a store): Can I get three Iphones. I'll do one black 64gb and two silver 128gb

C. I have four guitars. Two steel string(s) and two nylon string(s)

My question is: Do these sentences sound odd? Can I omit the nouns at the end of them? In sentence A, can I omit “HDs” (two 500gb HDs”? In sentence B, can I omit “Iphone”? One black and two silver 128gb (Iphones). And in sentence C, can I omit “guitars”? Two steel string(s) and two nylon string(s) (guitars)?

Thannk you

Question

Omitting words
Hi, there

I have a question about omission in English. Do these sentences sound strange?

A. (in a store): I’ll take three HDs. One 250gb and two 500gb

B. (in a store): Can I get three Iphones. I'll do one black 64gb and two silver 128gb

C. I have four guitars. Two steel string(s) and two nylon string(s)

My question is: Do these sentences sound odd? Can I omit the nouns at the end of them? In sentence A, can I omit “HDs” (two 500gb HDs”? In sentence B, can I omit “Iphone”? One black and two silver 128gb (Iphones). And in sentence C, can I omit “guitars”? Two steel string(s) and two nylon string(s) (guitars)?

Thannk you

Answer

Please

Answer

Thank you, George. Even the Iphone example?

Let's say I walked into an Apple store and clerk asked me: What are you looking for?
Would it be fine to say "Can I get three Iphones? I'll do two silver 128 gb and one black 64 gb"? Does that sentence really sound fine?

Answer

They sound fine. As long as there is no ambiguity as to what you are referring, you  don't have to repeat the noun. You could, but you don't have to. By the way, "string" would be singular in your example.