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xnihil · Joined: 06 May 2003 Posts: 92 Location: Egypt

This question came up on a test yesterday and none of our colleagues can come up with a satisfactory answer with explanation. I thought I'd see if anyone here cares to tackle it:

Give me the name of one of the students who _____ passed the test.

a. has
b. have

Now, aside from the fact that it is a slightly awkward sentence ("...who passed the test" is a much clearer answer), can someone choose the correct answer and then explain it?

BTW, there was an interesting grammatical issue highlighted in the WP this morning about a disputed question on the PSATs. I plan on sharing it with my students to demonstrate the fallibility of dogmatic grammatical rules.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A51947-2003May13?language=printer

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

The correct answer is a (has) because this relative clause is modifying the word "one", which is singular.

xnihil · Joined: 06 May 2003 Posts: 92 Location: Egypt

How can you tell that "one" is the word being modified and not "students"?

guest of Japan · Joined: 28 Feb 2003 Posts: 1601 Location: Japan

The sentence would read:

"Give me the names or the students who have passed the test."

One is used to specify the amount in question.

andrew murphy · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 51 Location: Australia

I would have thought that the antecedent is "name" therefore requiring the singular "has". After all it is the "name" that one is requesting, not the "students". You could rephrase the sentence thus: "Give me the name of the student who has passed" or "Give me the name of one who has passed" which is different from: "Give me the names of the students who have passed".

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

"one" is the subject of the subordinated clause, therefore it has to be 'has' (the verb has to agree with the subject 'one').

Ben Round de Bloc · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1946

But, Andrew, can a name pass a test? I'd say the antecedent has to be either one or students. If we rearrange the order of the sentence to say, Of the students who has/have passed the test, give me the name of one, I'd have to go with have.

However, my logic might be off. It's been a long day.
Question

M@tt · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 473 Location: here and there

It's have, unless you put a comma after "students", making a restrictive relative clause that refers to the one student (among all the students) who passed the test.

1. Give me the name of one of the students who have passed the test.
2. Give me the name of one of the students, who has passed the test.

It helps if you think of the noun phrase in the first sentence: "the students who have passed the test". Or you could reword it: Give me the name of one student among the students who have passed the test. Then it becomes clear that the verb should be have.

I think those are the only two options, and they have different meanings. The second one is awkward sounding, but correct.

andrew murphy · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 51 Location: Australia

Woops! Oh, yes, you're quite right Ben Round de Bloc. The relative pronoun for "name" would be "which". The "who" therefore points to "one" or "students". It would seem that the qualification or restriction "one" is the antecedent therefore requiring the singular "has". The trap here seems to be reaching to the closest word to the relative clause, which here is "students", when I believe that "one of the students" needs to be taken as a whole.

I'm afraid I'm not convinced, M@att, that the insertion of a comma before the relative clause is required for the "has" solution. If one reads these two possilities out aloud it seems to me that the "correct standard english" sense requires "has". The other solution, emphasising the students, would look something like this: "Give me the name of one of those students who have passed the test."

Chew this cud over!

guest of Japan · Joined: 28 Feb 2003 Posts: 1601 Location: Japan

After chewing my cud for a while, I think M@tt's comma theory should be the inverse.

"Give me the name of one of the students, who have passed the test."

Here the restrictive relative clause is used for emphasis on the good students.

"Give me the name of one of the students who has passed the test."

Here the non-restrictive relative clause is used to give necessary information with no emphasis.

Another poster's sentence,

"Of the students who have passed the test, give me the name of one."

Here the emphasis is on the students and thus the verb is plural.

xnihil · Joined: 06 May 2003 Posts: 92 Location: Egypt

Guest,
If I'm not mistaken, a restrictive clause does not take a comma.

Go to the other room and grab a chair which has a broken leg. (restrictive: I want to tell the broken chair apart from the others)

Go to the other room and grab the chair, which has a broken leg.
(non-restrictive: there is only one chair in there and it happens to have a broken leg)

"Give me the name of one of the students who have passed the test."
restricts the pool from which the name may be selected, IMHO, thus requiring the plural verb.

I can't seem to find anyone to agree with me, however.

Andrew, I don't think that inserting "those" into the sentence does anything. If it took "have" without it, it will still take it, and vice versa.

Thanks for all the input, everyone.

guest of Japan · Joined: 28 Feb 2003 Posts: 1601 Location: Japan

I could easily have been mistaken as to which was which. I don't have a grammar book handy to check. I'm teaching really really low level students now.

johnslat · Posted: Thu May 15, 2003 2:50 pm Post subject: It's all relative

My two cents worth:
It should be " have ".
" Give me the name of one of the students who have passed the test. "
The relative clause is modifying " students ".
For example,
" One of the students who is/are in this class is absent. "
" Are " would be correct choice.
Regards,
John

johnslat · Posted: Thu May 15, 2003 3:10 pm Post subject: A tense moment

Whoa - I just realized. It's a " trick question ", in a way. We've all been barking up the wrong tree. The tense is wrong. It should read:
" Give me the name of one of the students who passed the test ".
The action's over - in the past. The passing or failing happened when the tests were graded. After all, we don't say:
" So, how many of your students HAVE passed ( or failed ) the quiz ".
We say
" So, how many of your students passed ( or failed ) the quiz".
Regards,
John

xnihil · Joined: 06 May 2003 Posts: 92 Location: Egypt

Good eye John, but I have to respectfully disagree. Remember, the present perfect can be used for situations that occurred in the past but have an impact on the present. For example, I might say:

I have lost my keys (Implying that I can't drive my car right now).

I could say : "I lost my keys" but I could also use the present perfect.