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Sat 29 Apr, 2017 05:08 pm
I'm working on a short story, and I'm not sure if the correct form of the sentence is "One of the rulers _is_ dead" or "One of the rulers _are_ dead". Which one is grammatically correct, because they both don't sound right to me?
it should be "is". only "one" of the rulers is dead. if you put "are" that would indicate that all of them are dead, which isn't the case, I don't think?
one (of the rulers) is dead. the words in parenthesis are there to help with comprehension.
Is = singular. Are = plural. What could be more singular than one? I remember a British WW2 film about bombers over Germany called "One of Our Aircraft is Missing".
@Syd-the-pegasus,
Syd-the-pegasus wrote:they both don't sound right to me?
I think maybe I know where you are coming from here - are you thinking of the 'more than one is/are' thing? Just a guess.
http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/12/can-more-than-one-be-singular.html
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