Verb Tense

[raj]

Source of the question : I have made it up

Punjab is the only one of the 33 contiguous states that still has a sizeable wheat production.

Is this sentence right or should it use that still have a sizeable wolf population.
What if the question would have been is one of the instead of only one of the ,,,, does it make a difference at all ?

What is the general rule in sentences of the type X is one of the Y ?

Thanks in advance !
Raj

[StaceyKoprince]

You're right - Punjab is the sole subject for "has" so it should be singular. "of the 33 continuous states" is a prepositional phrase, and prep. phrases generally don't contain the subject (there are some rare exceptions, but this isn't one of them).

Think logically about it too - are you saying they all have a sizeable wolf population? Nope, you're only saying that about Punjab. So the verb should match - singular. And that's the general rule for a sentence with this structure.

[sanj]

You're right - Punjab is the sole subject for "has" so it should be singular. "of the 33 continuous states" is a prepositional phrase, and prep. phrases generally don't contain the subject (there are some rare exceptions, but this isn't one of them).

Think logically about it too - are you saying they all have a sizeable wolf population? Nope, you're only saying that about Punjab. So the verb should match - singular. And that's the general rule for a sentence with this structure.

but in this similar sentence "A higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important one, that keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did earlier in the decade." plural verb 'keep' is correct

Punjab is the only one of the 33 contiguous states that still has a sizeable wheat production. so here also 'have' should be correct

[Nagm]

I agree with you. It should be "Have"
As far as I am concerned rule of thumb is

one of the Xs is (singular verb)

one of the Xs that are (plural verb)

Need insight from Instructors????????????????

[Guest]

Any insight from instructors

[RonPurewal]

but in this similar sentence "A higher interest rate is only one of the factors, albeit an important one, that keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control, like it did earlier in the decade." plural verb 'keep' is correct

Punjab is the only one of the 33 contiguous states that still has a sizeable wheat production. so here also 'have' should be correct

no, you're missing the crucial difference between these two examples - namely, the presence or absence of the word the. that makes all the difference.

remember, if you're going to consider a prepositional phrase disposable, then the sentence WITHOUT the prepositional phrase has to make sense. let's try that with the first one:
a higher interest rate is only one ... that keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control.
that doesn't make grammatical sense without the before 'only one'. therefore, we MUST consider all those words at the end to be part of the prepositional phrase starting with 'of the factors', so that 'factors' is the subject of the verb 'keep'.
now let's try it with the second one:
punjab is the only one ... that still has a sizable wheat production.
ok, that works - perfectly logical, even if we eliminate the prepositional phrase. therefore, 'only one' is the subject of 'has'.

so, as you can see, the presence/absence of 'the' makes all the difference in the world.

[dps]

I didn't get difference of the. It seems very subtle, at least to me

In these two sentences, I think logically also you can conclude singular/plural

a higher interest rate is only one ... that keeps the housing market from spiraling out of control.

Here, after removing prepositional phrase, meaning is changed. Originally sentence meant that all those factors keep housing market from spiraling...

But second sentence: punjab is the only one ... that still has a sizable wheat production.

This sentence make sense even without prepositional phrase and that's what original sentence was conveying.

So do you think we can deduce singular/plural from logical meaning?

[JonathanSchneider]

I'll try to put this in the context of our SC strategy guide, namely the chapter on Modifiers. The prepositional phrase "of the 33 states" is a modifier - describing the word "one." But the relative cluase "that still ..." is ALSO a modifier - ALSO describing the word "one." Now, isn't the rule that noun modifiers have to touch the nouns they modify? In that sense, doesn't the clause beginning with "that" have to modify "states"? And if so, doesn't the verb have to be plural? The answer is NO. When we have multiple modifiers modifying the same noun, we obviously cannot put them all right next to the noun. As a result, we simply list the modifiers in order, and it is understood that they refer back to the same noun. Thus, in this case, the "that" clause connects back to the word "one." As a result, Stacey's explanation is correct: the prepositional phrase is just in the way. And Ron's explanation is also correct: the sentence would make sense without that prepositional phrase. This is because the "that" clause is modifying "one."

The second example (interest rates) is different: here, the "that" clause is modifying "factors," which is the object of the preposition. AKA, you've got a modifier modifying a modifier. The question is, as Ron says, about the meaning: what is each modifier meant to modify? I recommend that for practice you highlight the modifiers in a few SC sentences (in the right answers) to see when modifiers modify the core and when they modify other modifiers.

[NIKESH_PAHUJA]

Jonathan ......excellent explanation.......!! Thanks!!