22.06.2013 Views

Grammatically Correct: The writer's essential guide to punctuation ...

Grammatically Correct: The writer's essential guide to punctuation ...

Grammatically Correct: The writer's essential guide to punctuation ...

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT<br />

construction sounds a bit pedantic. And in certain cases it can be<br />

taken <strong>to</strong> mean not any, which could be associated with either a<br />

singular or a plural. Thus, the decision as <strong>to</strong> how <strong>to</strong> treat it depends<br />

partly on whether a singular or a plural notion predominates, and<br />

partly on how formal a <strong>to</strong>ne you wish <strong>to</strong> achieve.<br />

<strong>The</strong> candidates seem interchangeable; none stands out as the best<br />

leader.<br />

[not one; verb is singular]<br />

None but the foolhardy eat at this place.<br />

[not any; verb is plural]<br />

None of these options~ satisfac<strong>to</strong>ry.<br />

None of these options are satisfac<strong>to</strong>ry.<br />

[singular form is more correct, but plural form is acceptable]<br />

PROBLEM PHRASES<br />

When it comes <strong>to</strong> subject-verb agreement, certain phrases cause<br />

more than their share of confusion. Some particularly troublesome<br />

ones are one of, the only one of, more than one, one or more, one<br />

in . .. [a certain number], a number of and the number of (Not<br />

surprisingly, these problem wordings all have something <strong>to</strong> do with<br />

notions of singularity or plurality.)<br />

Exercise<br />

In the following, which of the verbs in parentheses is correct?<br />

Horatio is one of those people who (is, are) late for everything.<br />

Albertine is the only one of the guests who (needs, need) a lift.<br />

As the witnesses filed out, more than one (was, were) overcome by<br />

emotion.<br />

Included with each set (is, are) one or more evaluation forms.<br />

It is estimated that one in four adults (has, have) difficulty reading.<br />

A number of students (has, have) already registered.<br />

<strong>The</strong> number of cases (was, were) surprising.<br />

Answers<br />

Horatio is one of those people who are late for everything.<br />

<strong>The</strong> key <strong>to</strong> understanding this undeniably tricky construction is <strong>to</strong><br />

218

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!