Job Discussion Forums

[johnslat]

Dear arioch36,
Aw shucks - I just copied that off the Net. Nope, no PhD holder I. When some of my students call me " Doctor ", I tell them I'm not one. So, when they ask what they should call me instead, I tell them, " Well, I DO have a Masters Degree - so just call me Master ". Regarding the question on this thread, I think the best case has been made for the answer - either " have " or " has " is acceptable. There's simply not enough context to say that one is definitely correct and the other not. And context, I say again, is ALL important.
Regards,
John
P.S. I'm not so sure, though, about " English is a living language, it belongs to the people ". Since there are so many people using it in so many different ways - " standard ", " sub-standard ", " correct " and " incorrect ", if we open the floodgates, why then, what'll we teach? In a way, it's like " democracy " - 50 million Frenchmen ( or Americans, etc. ) can be and sometimes are, wrong.

[Stephen Jones]

Dear Arioch,
You can't even read. The figure of 92% preferring a singular construction does not refer to this construction. The figure given for the construction exemplified by "one of the students who has" is accepted as correct by 42%. That leaves 58% at the very least who accept the plural so it is clear even by the standards in your own post that both are correct.

It is highly doubtful if you can use the first sense of singulariy as given by the American Heritage "The quality or state of being singular" to refer to the grammatical concept. I cannot find a single example in any of half-a-dozen dictionaries of it being used in that context.

Playing the "man of the people" is one of the oldest resources of the charlatan.

And for sheer simplicty the students who have.

[arioch36]

Mr. Jones, thank you, for the confirmation. If you say you have a Phd, I will believe you.

Man of the people...no. KISS yes, definitely. Grammar that cannot be explained is worthless grammar (to all accpet those few who love to prove to other academics how smart they are), because grammar only exists to help people understand language

I find Co build to be the best dictionary, but on line I use m-w.com.

"I can not find an example of singularity being used in a grammar situation in half a dozen dictionaries". I personally don't believe you checked a half a dozen dictionaries. Maybe in Saudi you can afford to have so many dictionaries.If you did, thank you for the time you spent on my behalf. If you simply lied....

Logic...the example in the dictionary did not use it in referring to grammar, thus it is wrong to do so.....uh huh, uh huh, this from a person who has to twist and turn thing to make HAS incorrect

[xnihil]

I am amazed that one person can be so wrong about so many things.

[xnihil]

Bad News Stephen and my apologies Arioch.

After a cursory search on google, I found half a dozen uses of Singularity in the grammatical sense (often used by self-proclaimed grammaticians).

Arioch, it looks like you weren't wrong about everything.

Again, my apologies.

[Tripmaster Monkey]

OK, I'm going to be bold here. While intonation can very often change the meaning/implication of a sentence. Grammar is never influenced by implication.

As others have pointed out, the reduced version of this sentence is:

One of the students has passed the test.

It would never be:

One of the students have passed the test.


Never.

If we were going for plural, it would be:
Give me the names of some of the students who have passed the test.

Granted, when us native speakers speak, we very often break rules. It doesn't sound unnatural at all to use have. If, however, we write it down, this sentence would follow one rule only: has.

There are grammar rules by which "all" and "none" can be both plural and singular, but that doesn't apply here.


As for simple vs. present perfect, it is true that passed would be more natural. However, there are contexts in which present perfect would be used. The TOEFL exam would be a good example. Since it doesn't happen on a single date and students take it more than once, "passed" would incorrectly mean that the exam is over.

Cheers!

[xnihil]

[Shonai Ben]

xnihil:
Could I make a suggestion?Please change your avatar.It is difficult to read your posts with that eye staring at me continuosly.
Thanks bro..

[Tripmaster Monkey]

Yeah, OK. I found Bartleby independently corroborated elsewhere. Singular would be OK, but I don't have to like it...

Another argument I once heard:

I like doing the dishes in the evening.

I like to do the dishes in the evening.

Do these two sentences have the same meaning?