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Old 08-28-2013, 04:56 AM   #8
Hitch
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT View Post
The subject is "1 boy"; the verb should therefore be singular. "is" is the correct word.
Harry, it depends. The subject isn't the one boy; it's the statistic, isn't it? The "1 in 6 boys," not the one? Is "one" the noun and subject, or is "boys" the noun and subject?

Actually, the reason the sentence is so bollixed is the "1 in 6" instead of "1 out of every six," which would have been more accurate and eliminated the discussion altogether, as at that point, it (the subject) certainly would have been the one, not the "boy(s)," plural.

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