Sentence Correction

Soumita wrote:1)The percentage of students who do not attend ceremony was small.

Here who modify the percentage of students and was is used as the percentage is singular.

2)One of the students who was sick was absent during exam.

Here who modify one of the students and as one is singular was is used.

3) He is one of the students who speak Italian.

Here also who modify one of the students and in this case also one is singular. But in this case plural verb is used i.e speak not speaks. Why in this case there is exceptional?

Soumita Ghosh wrote:Hi nisagl750,

Thanks a lot for your response.

Then why in case of The percentage of students does not instead of do not and was instead of were?

One of the students who was instead of were?

Tommy Wallach wrote:My head hurts!

Guys, really try to write grammatically when talking about grammar, or life gets confusing!

1)The percentage of students who do not attend ceremony was small. --> This sentence isn't grammatical...

NEW 1): The percentage of high school students who do not go to college is small.

The subject of this sentence is "the percentage (of high school students)". How do we know? Because it's not the students who are "small."

1b) A number of the monkeys in captivity are smelly.
1c) The number of monkeys in captivity is growing.

In the first sentence, "smelly" tells us that "monkeys" are the subject, so our verb is plural.
In the second sentence, "growing" tells us that "number" is the subject, so our verb is singular.


2)One of the students who was sick was absent during the exam.

This sentence is correct. The subject is "one of the students," which is singular.

The reading you might be thinking of:

One student, who was among the many students who were sick, was absent during the exam.

That's a hideous sentence, but that makes "students" into the subject.

3) He is one of the students who speak Italian.

In this example, "one" is not the subject, as it was in the other two sentences. And "he" is the subject of "is". So the only subject left for "speak" is "students."

Does that help?

-t

Tommy Wallach wrote:Hey Nisagl,

I think I already explained this, but...

You can't say "One of the students who were sick..."

Why not? Because the subject of that verb is "one."

You wrote "who modifies the students who were sick." No it doesn't. "Who" modifies "one of the students".

It's a bit like saying "The king of France, whom I know quite well, is sick."

In that sentence, "whom" is not modifying France. It's modifying "The king of France."

Does that help?

-t