Date:  Wed, 8 Nov 1995 08:33:46 -0500

From:  "Dennis R. Preston" <preston[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]PILOT.MSU.EDU>

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



I knew Larry could bracket it (and show that the rule which disallows a

more 'ticklish' determination of which subject goes where is silly).

Dennis Preston



>Dennis P. challenges:

>

>>Bracket this:

>

>>'This is the only one of the fictions which has/*have caused us any trouble

>>at all' (as opposed to '...one of those dictions which have...). It seems

>>clear to me that 'semantic' facts can indeed 'disrupt' the over-simple

>>prescriptivist rule.

>>The 'only' addition demands singular agreeemnt

>

>Let me take up the challenge. Consider:

>(i) This is THE ONLY ONE [of the fictions] which HAS caused us any problems.

>

>(ii) This is the only one [of [THE FICTIONS that HAVE caused us problems]]

>          that needs to be dealt with today.

>

>Yep, it's bracketing, a.k.a. figuring out whose subject is whose. Dennis's

>example, (i), sports a negative polarity item (_any_) and a relative pronoun

>(_which_, typically associated with non-restrictive relatives) that make the

>bracketing, and thus the singular agreement, in (i) appropriate. In (ii),

>I've changed _which_ to restrictive _that_, removed the _any_, and added

>enough context to force a different bracketing and plural agreement (leaving,

>of course, singular agreement on _needs_, which does agree with 'the only one'

>--its subject).  Safire, eat your heart out.

>

>Larry