Date:  Tue, 7 Nov 1995 02:11:10 -0500

From:  Duane Price <Thx23[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM>

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



In a message dated 95-11-07 00:25:54 EST, Larry writes:



>>"Of the fictions that have grown, one is...." Seems gramatically

>>correct to

>>me. GWW

>

>Or, preserving the word order of the original,

>

>One [of [THE FICTIONS that HAVE grown out of the constant interviewing of

>      Reed and other arbiters of r-w p c]] is ...

>

>If I'm not mistaken, even prescriptivists (at least Safire) argue explicitly

>for the logic of the plural in contexts like 'One of the women that work in

>my

>office', etc.

>

>Larry



I'm in at the tailend of this one, but it seems like a fairly simple issue to

me:

"Of the fictions that have grown, one is...." is grammatically correct

because

the adjective clause "that have grown" modifies "fictions," which is a plural

noun; and the verb in any such clause must agree with the subject that it's

subordinating conjuction represents. You may only be referring to one

fiction, but many HAVE grown. Is it me, or is this one a no-brainer?



 ~The trick was to surrender to the flow...

                     -Trey Anastasio







               Duane (Thx23[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]aol.com)