"1 in 6": a grammar stumper

[MacEachaidh]

Hi all,
Does anyone have any thoughts on the following?

A friend asked me to proofread the new website for his organisation SAMSN. It provides support groups here in Australia for adult male survivors of childhood sexual abuse. The website includes the following statement:

A staggering 1 in 6 Australian boys are sexually abused before they’re 18

which I suggested should read

A staggering 1 in 6 Australian boys is sexually abused before he’s 18


My friend had a real stumble over that, saying what I had suggested was "so obviously wrong" that it would stop people reading the page.

I know the current trend is to treat collective nouns as plural (which to be honest is a mental speedhump for me every time I hear it), and that how it was originally written is probably now the vernacular use, but I thought it might still be an either/or. How did it get so entrenched that the usage I suggested is now "so obviously wrong?"

It's his site, and my comments were only my suggestions, so no dramas there. And yes I know, language changes, and so on — I'm only going on language as I'm used to it, not trying to stick rules on others. But it does puzzle me, and I'd like to hear which way the general consensus lies.

Any opinions people care to offer, please?

[Dr. Drib]

...boys are abused.....


There's your subject and the verb that goes with it.

'[T]hey,' of course, would follow.




Don

[MacEachaidh]

Then what's the "1" for? I honestly don't get how "boys is the subject — wouldn't the subject be "1 boy"?

If you restructured the sentence, wouldn't it be "1 boy is abusd out of 6" ?

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by MacEachaidh

Then what's the "1" for? I honestly don't get how "boys is the subject — wouldn't the subject be "1 boy"?

If you restructured the sentence, wouldn't it be "1 boy is abusd out of 6" ?

"boys" is the noun (like that one?). "1 of 6" is the noun's modifier. If you removed the modifier, it would simply be "...boys are abused..." and you'd know it should be "are," rather than "is." You're focused on the one (1), rather than the boys. That's all; your friend's assessment is correct, it's "are," not "is." I don't believe that this is a case of what's in the vernacular.

Hitch

[cghipp]

You were correct. "One in six IS," but "Two in six ARE."

[cghipp]

For example, you wouldn't say, "One of my friends are short." The subject is ONE friend. One friend is short; one of my friends is short.

[HarryT]

The subject is "1 boy"; the verb should therefore be singular. "is" is the correct word.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by HarryT

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.

Hitch

[HarryT]

Yes, I see your point; you're considering the collective whole of the "1 in 6" rather than the 1 individually. I think it's a case where either a singular or plural could be considered correct, although personally I prefer the singular in this case.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Yes, I see your point; you're considering the collective whole of the "1 in 6" rather than the 1 individually. I think it's a case where either a singular or plural could be considered correct, although personally I prefer the singular in this case.

Hi:

I meant to say, earlier, that I personally preferred, ear-wise, the "1-is," over the "boys-are," given the sentence in its entirety, but I do think, in this instance, that what you say is true--given the way the sentence is written, it could be interpreted either way--the collective plural or the 1. Hmmm...we certainly get some interesting "stuff" here on MR, don't we?

Hitch

[WillAdams]

There are more than 6 boys in Australia, so more than 1 boy is a statistic.

One of my six friends is short.

On average, one out of six boys that I know are short.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by Hitch

"boys" is the noun (like that one?). "1 of 6" is the noun's modifier. If you removed the modifier, it would simply be "...boys are abused..." and you'd know it should be "are," rather than "is." You're focused on the one (1), rather than the boys. That's all; your friend's assessment is correct, it's "are," not "is." I don't believe that this is a case of what's in the vernacular.

Hitch

Exactly.



Don

[samhy]

If it were me, with my French background, I would use "is" because it's referring to the sentence subject "one in six".

In French, both would be okay, even though one way may be more right For example, we can say

The majority of the readers agrees with the publisher.

(correct grammar wise since the subject of the sentence is "the majority")
as well as

The majority of the readers agree with the publisher.

(okay since the theme of the sentence clearly states there are more than one reader).

Now French and English grammar rules can sometimes be very close, however I won't say that what applies to one stays true for the other

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by WillAdams

There are more than 6 boys in Australia, so more than 1 boy is a statistic.

I think we have a winner.

I think we all agree that the subject of the subject-verb-object is "1 in 6 Australian boys".

As WillAdams points out, this is a whole lot of boys, and so the plural is correct.

[samhy]

Maybe that can be of some help.

Fractions and percentages take the singular when they modify a mass noun and the plural when they modify a plural noun; either the singular or the plural may be used when they modify a collective noun.