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Can we use "this" to refer to several things?

There's a new attachment added to the gun. There's also a monopod with a hinge on the back for increased support and stability. We replaced the old scope with a new one that can see targets at a much greater range. We also replaced the trigger mechanism with an electronic one for greater security. This sums up all the changes we've made to the gun.

I am not sure if we can use "these". I thought about it, but it sounds weird and for some reason "this" sounds better, but it also seems to be grammatically incorrect.

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"This", the singular form, does not refer to each item of the weapon, but to the report or summary: "This sums up..."

For example, "There is a box with pens and pencils. This box is blue." The summary is a single container, as well.

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  • Yes. You could say, "These are the changes we've made", "these" plural because we're talking about all the changes. But in this case the final sentence does not refer to the changes, but to the description of the changes. There are many changes but there is only one description.
    – Jay
    Sep 11 '19 at 18:42

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