"From three attempts a single one affirmed the chance for success." - is this grammatically acceptable?

Question

I am grappling with a sentence here, which is rather poetic in nature and is way beyond my intuitive knowledge of English. Please help!

"From three attempts a single one affirmed the chance for success."

The contextual meaning is that there were three attempts made and only one of them was successful. It was successful because the chance was affirmed.

Is the sentence in question grammatically correct? Or can it be rephrased for compactness:  "A single of three attempts affirmed the chance for success."

Thank you!

pablopaul · Answer

"From three attempts a single one affirmed the chance for success."

The sentence is grammatically sound, but semantically a little confusing.

I wouldn't use single here, as a single one suggests a rare outlier amongst many, not just one of three. Also, it is not success that is affirmed, but rather the chance of success. My interpretation and rephrasing of the sentence would be:

"One of three attempts proved success was possible."

cloudsafe · Answer

'affirmed' is more of a declaration, but the declarer is an abstract noun: 'attempt', so isn't logical. A better word would be 'guaranteed' if the chance of success is definite, or 'offered' if it is not. 'chance of' is redundant.

Answered by cloudsafe on February 3, 2021

"From three attempts a single one affirmed the chance for success." - is this grammatically acceptable?

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