Date:  Tue, 7 Nov 1995 01:29:42 -0500

From:  Bob Haas <rahaas[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]HAMLET.UNCG.EDU>

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



On Mon, 6 Nov 1995, Bethany Dumas, UTK wrote:



> In a squib on Colin Powell (p. 35), this sentence occurs:

>

> "One of the fictions that have grown out of the constant interviewing

> of Reed and other arbiters of right-wing political correctness is

> that Amerians vote for a Presidential candidate mainly because of where

> he stands on certain clearly defined isues."

>

Bethany,



I don't consider myself a grammarian, but I would consider "have" correct

since the relative pronoun "that" in this sentence refers to the word

"fictions", a plural. The word "one" really doesn't come into play in

figuring the proper inflection for the to be verb which follows. A petty

point to be sure, but one you would want to be consider if you were going

to note it in a student's paper. As for me, I'd probably glide right

over it if it didn't really interfere with the point at hand. Besides,

you might get a student who's really into that stuff. My two cents.



The to be verb which acts with "one" is the word "is" which follows after

the long modifying phrase.



Bob Haas

University of North Carolina at Greensboro

rahaas[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]hamlet.uncg.edu