Date:  Tue, 7 Nov 1995 00:33:05 -0400

From:  "E. Wayles Browne" <ewb2[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CORNELL.EDU>

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



>...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.



2) I have three cats. All three of them are sitting on the porch. One of them

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

respectively.)

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



Wayles Browne, Assoc. Prof. of Linguistics

Morrill Hall, Cornell University

Ithaca, New York 14853, U.S.A.

tel. 607-255-0712 (o), 607-273-3009 (h)

e-mail ewb2[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]cornell.edu (1989 to 1993 was: jn5j[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]cornella.bitnet //

jn5j[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]cornella.cit.cornell.edu)