The 1-S Rule – 2 more situations

In this article on the 1-S rule, or the subject-verb agreement rule, till now we’ve looked at the following 10 situations:

1. 1. 1. 1. BASIC / GENERAL Application:
         2. EVERYONE / EVERYBODY
         3. EACH / EVERY
         4. AND
         5. COLLECTIVE NOUNS
         6. ALL / SOME
         7. NONE
         8. FRACTIONS / PERCENTAGES / MAJORITY / MINORITY
         9. TOGETHER WITH / ALONG WITH / AS WELL AS
         10. EITHER / NEITHER

We looked at numbers 8, 9, and 10 in the last post. (CLICK HERE TO READ)

Now, let’s look at the 11th and 12th situations:

1. 1. 1. ONE OF / SOME OF
      2. THE IN-BETWEEN PHRASES

ONE OF/SOME OF

With these phrases, the noun before it determines the plurality of the verb. I know this sounds creepy, but there you are! Okay, I’ll make it simpler.

Look at the following statement:

Mathematics is one of the subjects that have pulled down my total score.

Let’s rearrange the words to form a more comprehensible sentence:

Of the subjects that have pulled down my overall score, mathematics was one.

See? Now, it’s clear, isn’t it? It says subjects. So, there were several subjects that pulled down my total score, and mathematics was just one of them.

You don’t have to rearrange the words any time you see one of/some of! this was to just show you the logic.

Let’s look at some more.

1. Australia is one of the countries that oppose China.
2. Mary is one of the girls who go on the mission. 
3. Oxford AstraZeneca is one of the companies that are developing a COVID vaccine. 
4. Your promotion is one of the points that are being discussed in that meeting.

THE IN-BETWEEN PHRASES

During my teaching career, I have found that my students were the most confused in this situation. Let’s look at one sample sentence:

Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, with his great experience in DRDO and ISRO, and his intense efforts in India’s civil space programme and military missile development efforts, was responsible for the ballistic and launch vehicle technology.

This is the huge in-between bit:

with his great experience in DRDO and ISRO, and his intense efforts in the development of ballistic missiles and launch vehicles

It’s really confusing, isn’t it? Do you say “efforts was”?

There, my dear, lies the catch! Let me tell you.

The main bit is:

Dr Kalam…was responsible…

See? Okay, look at the commas separating the main with the subsidiary parts of the sentence. So, the bit before the first comma and the bit after the last comma together form the sentence.

The bit before the first comma: Kalam,

The bit after the second comma: …, was

So, there you see? I agree this is a bit confusing, but go a little deeper and you find it as simple as the rest.

So, that’s all about the 1-S rule (sorry, subject-verb agreement) thingamajig in English!

Ask your doubts in the comments below. I’d also love to read your comments! So, don’t feel ashamed – write them down!

All the best!