conundrum

[Scott Petersen]

I have a translator friend in Tula who has presented the following conundrum:
> How to write "They built a furniture-making and meat-processing FACTORIES. 
> A - singular. 
> FACTORIES - plural. A and Pl. are incompatible. What's to be done? 


> Please, try to translate - Они построили кондитерскую и макаронную фабрики. In Russian too there is a snag here. The correct and LOGICAL version is the PLURAL. But then the article A sticks out like a sore thumb. So, what to do? 

They built a confectionary and a pasta factory.
They build confectionary and pasta factories.

The second is ambiguous as to how many factories were built.

Any thoughts?

Scott Petersen

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