Myth of "One of.." 1. One of the X's that/who

Edited your original post.
Now you can resolve your paradox.
Hope thats clear.
-s

Hey Marcab,

Its not clear to me please explain with examples.

I have been toying with this for a long and I think I have understood the concept. Let me elaborate.


One of is always singular - In the broad manner.

Like

One of the apples has fallen down
One of the dogs is missing
One of the students has gone mad etc.

Now notice that at this point I am using plural nouns after one of the "students, dogs, apples etc...


Lets take another scenario


One of the teams has scored only 5 runs.
One of the groups is lost

Again here I am using plural collective noun - (group is a collective noun and groups is plural collective noun)


In a special case - if the group is identified to be plural in the sentence then one of the groups can become plural.

Ex -

one of the groups were Germans who have been always victorious.

In this case one of the groups has been identified as a "collective noun" which in this case is plural. We already know that collective noun can be plural or singular

Ex - The group are arguing among themselves about where to eat - Correct
The group is arguing among itself about where to eat - Illogical and Incorrect

The class have been told to put down their pencils - Correct
The class has been told to put down its pencils - Incorrect and illogical

Anyhow -
in the example above we know that

One of the groups were Germans who have always been victorious is CORRECT.

Here is a question:

Since 1989, after the Berlin Wall had been demolished, one of the most problematic ethnic groups in the
reunified Germany, in cultural and economic assimilation terms,were the former East Germans, who have had to acclimate to an entirely different political system.

A. after the Berlin Wall had been demolished, one of the most problematic ethnic groups in the reunified German, in
cultural and economic assimilation terms, were the former East Germans

B. after the Berlin Wall was demolished, one of the most problematic ethnic groups in the reunified Germany, in
cultural terms as well as those of economic assimilation, were the former East Germans - AS THOSE OF IS WRONG

C. when the Berlin Wall was demolished, one of the reunified Germany's most problematic ethnic groups, in terms
of cultural and economic assimilation, was the former East Germans - WHEN is WRONG

D. when the Berlin Wall was demolished, one of the most problematic ethnic groups in the reunified Germany, in
terms of cultural and economic assimilation, has been the former East Germans - WHEN IS WRONG

E. after the Berlin Wall had been demolished, one of the most problematic ethnic groups in the reunified Germany,
in both terms of cultural and economic assimilation, have been the former East Germans - As the WORD SINCE IS THERE SO we need have been.

remember 2 things

only one of the things which ARE
THE only one of the things which IS. in this sentence, which refers to 'THE ony one" because logic permits only this case.

I understand you are correct but lets do it with reasoning and let me know if I am correct. Check the EXAMPLE -5

Ex- 1
One of the apples has fallen
"SUBJECT" VERB

Ex-2
Icelandic is one of the several languages "that" has/have
SUBJECT VERB SUBJECT - That is the subject here and depending on what it refers to the verb will be decided.

In this case we know that "that" refers to languages - A Noun preceding that as it's plural it will be "have".

Ex-3
A higher interest rate is only one of the factors that keep the market from spiraling down
SUBJECT VERB SUBJECT VERB
"that refers to factors - noun preceding that.

Basically "THAT" can refer to the noun preceding it or it can to the original subject. It makes logical sense that it is not referring to "a higher interest rate" and it can only refer to factors.

Ex -4

One of the things "that went missing" was my necklace. Hence, each of the clause has its own Subject-Verb Pair.
Subject Subject Verb Verb


What you are talking about is



Ex- 5


Minnesota is the only one of the 48 states that receives less rainfall than Ohio.

Subject Verb THAT refers to Minnesota in this case because of the and hence receives is correct


or

Ex - 6

Minnesota is the only of the 48 states where there is less rainfall than Ohio


Subject Verb here " Where" refers to Minnesota and hence " is " correct.



Let me know if what I say seems correct to you.

this is quite simple actually

Think in this way - One of the Xs + Verb is singular because we are referring to one of many items
One of the Xs + that + verb is plural because we introduce relative clause wherein the relative pronoun (that/who) modifies the noun before it. In this case, it is X which is plural.

One of is always singular to me.

In SC Grail I read this



That's different from