@CaptainBohemian Your initial question was 'can On one hand -not- have a corresponding 'on the other hand'?' My snap answer is 'No, that would be crazy to leave it out.' But snap answers are too fast. Maybe there's some example somewhere where it works out OK.

Instead of being so theoretical, it works better with actual examples. Do you have a full couple sentences, one starting with On the one hand' and another where you could have 'on the other hand'(but possibly do something else)?

"On the one hand, I don't have an answer to that question; nevertheless, there must be an answer somewhere, if we could but find it."

@Robusto wow! is this a good example of the situation in which we can use "one the one hand" without 'on the other hand'? in the following?

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Offensive answer detected, potentially bad keyword in answer, toxic answer detected (160): What is a prefix that means near? by user333029 on english.SE

I need help to get my English articles checked but lang8 is not accepting new accounts :(

What do I do now?

Hi

@CaptainBohemian The phrase "on the one hand" may be viewed as merely setting up a dichotomy, and is often used to set up a counter-argument. It doesn't have to be followed by "on the other hand" and often that is deemed to be stylistically fussy, even obsessive. My sentence is an illustration of how the one can be used without the other.

Hi

Depending on the context, may one refer to 10 items, events as a large number? My guess is yes, but I'm not very sure.

@Robusto Quite a distance!

It must have been cold and slippery!

First real snow today.

We had a record total traffic-jam length of 2300 km or so.

Which is ten times the length of the country.

@user1357113 Yes, sure!

As you say, it depends on the context.

@Robusto Hah!

@Cerberus Thank you!

Only one, I'm afraid.

@user1357113 If you post the context, maybe someone will make more specific comments.

@Cerberus The fact that it is related to the context is perfectly fine to me. I'm not sure if there are situations when using some adjectives (related to counting) may sound strange, no matter the context.

@user1357113 Mmm words like "few / a few / several" might sometimes be confusing.

@Cerberus Agree!

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword in body, bad keyword in title, bad keyword with email in body, pattern-matching email in body (334): how i get cured from herpes virus by rose cambell on english.SE