Date: Tue, 7 Nov 1995 08:41:57 -0800

From: Allen Maberry maberry[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]U.WASHINGTON.EDU

Subject: Re: "One of the x that has/have"?



I might interpret the sentence a little differently:



On Tue, 7 Nov 1995, E. Wayles Browne wrote:



...but I remember a rule from my high school (prescriptive) English class.

For "One of the fictions" have/has the verb should be has because the

head noun (or simple subject) is "one." The plural in the prepositional

phrase does not serve as the controller for subject-verb agreement.

And why does it not, pray tell? Let's look at a couple of simpler scenarios.

1) I have three cats. One of them is sitting on the porch. He is named Tiger.

(The other two, let's say, are named Murka and Neko,

respectively.)

So I say: One of the cats that is sitting on the porch is named Tiger.





I would understand the sentence to imply that: there are cats on the porch,

some are sitting, one of the sitting cats is named Tiger.

For scenario 1 I think I would say simply "The cat that is sitting on the

porch is named Tiger."

Am I missing something?



Allen

maberry[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]u.washington.edu