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Can you use "including" after an uncountable word? Because the question is highly context-dependent I will just give you the sentence.

He watched all of the porn including the bad ones.

Sorry, I couldn't think of another example, but I don't think "porn" is particularly offensive.

I am seriously wondering how to say this in a grammatical fashion.

Instead of "ones", would you use "one", or does the entire sentence need to be reworded?

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Since "ones" is a pronoun, (in this usage) it must refer back to a previous noun or noun phrase, here to "porn". But since "porn" is an uncountable noun, this feels awkward, as the pronoun seems to lack agreement. This could be recast as:

  • He watched all of the porn including the bad examples.
  • He watched all of the porn films including the bad ones.

The problem does not seem to me to be the use of "including" but the use of "ones" with the uncountable noun as referant.

For those who want an example not using "porn":

  • He listened to all of the music, including the bad ones. (awkward)
  • He listened to all of the music, including the folk songs. (better)
  • He listened to all of the music, including the bad tunes. (better)
  • He listened to all of the music, including the bad stuff. (better yet)
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  • What about "he listened to all of the music, including the bad stuff"?
    – user88427
    Commented Jun 4, 2019 at 23:48
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    @blackbird yes, that works, and avoids the problem eith "ones". I'n fact i'll put it in the answer.
    – David Siegel
    Commented Jun 4, 2019 at 23:54
  • Sorry to nit-pick, but "one(s)" is actually a common noun, not a pronoun, as evident from the fact that it can take determiners such as "the" and "this", which pronouns can't. As you suggest, it requires a non-count antecedent, but note that the antecedent is not a full NP.
    – BillJ
    Commented Jun 5, 2019 at 7:53
  • @Bill According nto dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/one "One" in several senses is a pronoun en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/one lists 3 pronoun senses, including "a certain indefinitely indicated person or thing " followed by a usage note on "use of one as a pronoun". MW entry 3 for "one" as pronoun. Both Macmillan & Collins also give a pronoun sense. No room for URLs.
    – David Siegel
    Commented Jun 5, 2019 at 13:17
  • @bill Cambridge lists "He advised workers around him, especially the younger ones, to be patient." as a pronoun sense. Oxford lists "‘her best apron, the white one’" as a pronoun usage. Macmillan lists "It’s a good book, but his last one was better." as a pronoun usage (macmillandictionary.com/us/dictionary/american/one_1) Collins lists "They are selling their house to move to a smaller one." as a pronoun usage (collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/one_1). Several of these also list "one" as a determiner, by the way.
    – David Siegel
    Commented Jun 5, 2019 at 13:31

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