i need ur help.thanks.

[ericzhaolingchina]

hi, I am from China and i am leaning and teaching New concept English. There is a sentence in the piece, which i think is not correct. it is: Jasper White is one of those rare peolpe who believes in ancient myths. i think it should be believe not believes according to the grammar I learnt.

[Preceptor]

If the antecedent of 'who' is 'people,' a plural noun, then it would take a plural verb, in this case, 'believe.' If the antecedent of 'who' is 'Jasper White,' a singular noun, then it would take a singular verb, in this case, 'believes.' Since 'who' can be both singular and plural with no change in form, either verb can be correct.

The only clue to favor one interpretation over the other is the absence of a comma after 'people.' Strictly speaking, a comma in that location would make the antecedent 'Jasper White.' However, the absence of a comma in that location does not necessarily indicate that the antecedent must be 'people.'

[TheParser]

Jasper White is one of those rare peolpe who believes in ancient myths. i think it should be believe not believes according to the grammar I learnt.

NOT A TEACHER


(1) I believe that you are 100% correct.

Tom: Jasper is one of those people.

Mona: What people?

Tom: Those people who believe in myths.

Mona: Oh! Is he one (of those people)?

Tom: He certainly is.

***

(2) Now compare that with this dialogue:

Tom: Do all of those people believe in myths?

Mona: Not really. Only Jasper does.

Tom: Really?

Mona: That's right. Jasper is the only one (of those people) who believes in myths.

[5jj]

Other questions in this thread were about different topics. I have moved them to a new thread: Many people/everyone