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One of the <plural noun> which

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by magizhan » Fri May 28, 2010 10:29 pm
There is a detailed explanation on the usage of "one of the <noun> + that/who " usage.

https://www.beatthegmat.com/one-of-the-t40356.html

However I dont find any explanation on the usage of

One of the <plural noun> which singular/plural verb

Should it be singular or plural?

Should it be

One of the frogs which leaps... or

One of the frogs which leap... ?

Had it been one of the frogs that ..."leap" is right as per the explanation.
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by akhpad » Sat May 29, 2010 5:29 am
Occasionally, when it is completely unambiguous; WHICH can refer to a whole NOUN PHRASE that immediately precedes the comma.

if you have "X of Y, WHICH ...", then:
if Y works as the antecedent of WHICH, then "which" should stand for Y.
if Y doesn't work as the antecedent, but "X of Y" DOES work, then WHICH can stand for "X of Y".

The GMAT tends to write sentences in which "WHICH or WHO" stands for the ELIGIBLE noun [ noun phrase] that's closest to the comma.
By "eligible", I mean that the noun has to
AGREE IN TERMS OF SINGULAR/PLURAL with the FOLLOWING VERB.
AGREE IN TERMS OF PERSON/THING (i.e., no "which" for people, no "who" for things).

Here's an example:

The box of nails, which is on the counter, is to be used on this project.

In this case, WHICH cannot refer to "nails", since the verb "is" is singular. Therefore, the nearest eligible noun is "box (of nails)". So, "WHICH" unambiguously stands for THAT.

In Ron's observation, the GMAT has been VERY good about this.
Whenever I have seen a "which"/"who" that refers to "X + preposition + Y" rather than just Y, it has ALWAYS been the case that X was singular and Y was plural [or X was plural and Y was singular], and the verb had a form that matched X and didn't match Y.
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by akhpad » Sat May 29, 2010 5:31 am
magizhan wrote:
One of the frogs which leaps... or

One of the frogs which leap... ?

Had it been one of the frogs that ..."leap" is right as per the explanation.
One of the frogs, which leap...
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by magizhan » Sat May 29, 2010 6:46 am
Thanks Akhilesh.

It is still not clear how to determine which noun X or Y, "which" refers.

How did you conclude "which" is referring to one in the below sentence and not frogs which is immediate?

One of the frogs which...

Would it be
one of the frogs, which leap.........

had there been a comma?
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by akhpad » Sat May 29, 2010 7:12 am
One of the frogs, which leap + ...

Here, WHICH refers to frogs and, hence, is plural.

You have already gone through the thread where expert has discussed.

[Only] one of the <Plural Noun> <Singular Verb>
One of the students was late.
One of my books is missing.
One of the birds flies over the house; the other one flies past it.

[Only] one of the <Plural Noun> that/who <Plural Verb>
He is only one of the persons who bake spectacular cakes.
He is one of the people who bake special cakes.
Mary is one of the girls who come on Friday night.
This is one of the cars that run on diesel.
He is one of those persons who do not accept bribes.
He is one of those people who never fail in their lives.
I have found one of the books that were missing.
That's one of the birds that fly over my house at night.
This is one of those things that are ridiculously hard to memorize.

the [only] One of the <Plural Noun> that/who <Singular Noun>
Mary is the only one of the girls who comes on Friday night.
He is the only one of the people who bakes special cakes
Marina is the only one of the girls who has ever been to India.
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by gmatmachoman » Tue Jun 01, 2010 10:04 pm
Plz have a look in to the attached doc
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26249264-Which-Usage-Rule-gmat.pdf
(107.58 KiB) Downloaded 130 times
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