Singular or plural?

Is "One in five Americans" (or anything similar) considered singular or plural?

Which of the following are correct?

(1) One in five Americans SUFFERS from some form of obesity.

Or

(2) One in five Americans SUFFER from some form of obesity.

And what about "Three out of five" ?

Which of the following would be correct?

(1) Three out of five Americans SUFFER from some form of obesity?

(2) Three out of five Americans SUFFERS from some form of obesity?

((In this instance, I'm positive it is 1, but would appreciate an explanation, in any case))

Thanks in advance.

Last edited by knight247 on Mon Dec 08, 2014 10:04 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Brent@GMATPrepNow: GMAT Instructor; Posts: 16207; Joined: Mon Dec 08, 2008 6:26 pm; Location: Vancouver, BC; Thanked: 5254 times; Followed by:1268 members; GMAT Score:770

by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Mon Dec 08, 2014 10:03 am

The word "one" is the subject of this sentence.
The prepositional phrase "in five Americans" acts as an adjective that modifies (tells us more about) one.
Since the subject, one, is SINGULAR, we need the SINGULAR verb "suffers"

Cheers,
Brent

Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com

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knight247: Legendary Member; Posts: 504; Joined: Tue Apr 19, 2011 1:40 pm; Thanked: 114 times; Followed by:11 members

by knight247 » Mon Dec 08, 2014 11:19 pm

Thanks, Brent.

Also, "Three out of five Americans SUFFER...." is correct, eh?

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