My sister's one blew up

Glad I'm not the only one.

Elegran - I do that with CDs - I have several duplicates opn my shelves...

Elegran

Jane I bought a bargain iron in Tesco's (£4.99!) to replace the old (but still working) one I had had for years. Then I found the one I had bought a week previously (Tesco's, £4.99!) and put way in the cupboard beside the old one.

I think I am the one getting old.

Ah! Perhaps that's a good reason to use 'one', Elegran...

How many exploding sisters were there? Just the one?

The one could be retained if the sentence was recast 'The one my sister has exploded' for example - personally I would dump the 'one'.

Another irritation is the use of 'those ones'...

Well I don't know about microwaves, but I have just finished sorting out a cupboard and discovered I possess 3 irons
#howdidthathappen

Well, yes, I agree that one probably would feel the need to expand a bit about such a remarkable state of affairs!

Ana: I would almost certainly have launched into a much wordier explanation it she had several, something along the lines of: "My sister had several, and they exploded too".

But I admit that I do sometimes have a tendancy to use more words than strictly necessary!

I would not have used it. It seems clumsy and I would guess it was incorrect.

I am not a grammar expert but it should surely be obvious that it is microwaves that are being discussed.
I "processed" that that as if it had been spoken and not written, so I didn't notice the apostophe. Must be my funny brain!

Agree withAbsent and Tegan - the 'one' is superfluous, but is common and probably acceptable in speech.

Isn't it interesting how we all find different things unbearable? Personally, I agree that the one is probably superfluous but it doesn't bother me. But don't get me started on less v fewer - or indeed any random ungrammatical public notices.

I was taught that for formal writing purposes, if you can cross a word out without losing any of the meaning of a sentence, then you should cross it out. The 'one' in the example given is a prime example. Easy to say, in the speed of the moment though. So I reckon it depends on the context whether it really matters. I certainly don't always speak with perfect grammar or fluency.

But she could have had several which blew up...

In which case you'd have to say 'ones' if you were going to put it in.

It wouldn't be very likely that more than one sister's microwave blew up, I suppose...

Would someone be more inclined to slip in the word 'one' during a conversation when the you obviously don't see the apostrophe?

I reckon "My sister's [microwave understood] exploded" is perfectly adequate. Even if you have several sisters, the apostrophe makes things clear.