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In other words, which sentence is correct?

At least one of them is not coming.

At least one of them are not coming.

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jonvuri
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    General Reference says that the correct answer here must be *is. Also consider and contrast “One and only one of them is coming”* with “One or more of them are* coming”* and with “More than one of them is* coming”* — which are all correct but may be confusing to simplistic applications of computer logic. – tchrist Aug 05 '13 at 03:53
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    "Simplistic applications of computer logic" smells a little condescending. I'd say more than one in particular is legitimately tricky. How does one tell that that phrase isn't a collective acting in plural? And even though Google n-grams are perhaps a general reference, it still would be more reassuring seeing a citation from a grammar manual or style guide or something of that nature. – John Y Aug 05 '13 at 04:28
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    Ngrams are tricky enough to use well that I wouldn't recommend closing a question based on the fact that it might be answered with a well-constructed Ngram. – Bradd Szonye Aug 05 '13 at 05:15
  • I agree with @Bradd Szonye about Ngrams (which I don't like), but this question is absolutely too basic for this forum, as there is no doubt that the subject of the sentence is "one"; the title is ill-suited, "at least" is not at stake here, it could be "at least some of them", "at least two of them" and it would make all the difference in the world. – Paola Aug 05 '13 at 06:42
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    While it is a pretty basic question, I don't think a general reference would explain why “at least” doesn't matter to the grammatical number, especially when “one or more” takes a plural verb even though it means exactly the same thing. I would actually like to see an answer that explains the subtlety, as I'm having trouble expressing it concisely myself. – Bradd Szonye Aug 05 '13 at 06:52
  • possible duplicate of "My brother or one of my sisters" — singular or plural? – Mari-Lou A Aug 05 '13 at 06:59
  • Look at tchrist's extensive answer. And an excellent one too, might I add. – Mari-Lou A Aug 05 '13 at 07:01
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    I think I've managed to puzzle out why we use the number of the root noun in this case, instead of considering the possible plural implied by “at least”: It's essentially the same case as the rule that Mari-Lou cites for disjunct compounds. In cases where the subject noun phrase varies in number, we use the form of the closest noun instead of the meaning of the whole phrase. I'm not certain that this is the conventional rationale for this case, but I've posted an answer regardless. – Bradd Szonye Aug 05 '13 at 08:01
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    By the way: In researching my answer, I looked for a source that stated unambiguously that “at least one” is singular in number, and I couldn't even find something in the right ball park. Please don't vote to close as general reference unless you can cite a clear and relevant source! (At least tchrist did cite a source, I just dispute that it's unambiguous or reasonably accessible.) – Bradd Szonye Aug 05 '13 at 08:34
  • @JohnY But it very much is “computer logic” that risks leading one astray. “One and only one answer is* correct”* seems wrong because the computer adds 1+1=2 and wrongly thinks that must needs be plural. Similarly with “More than one answer is* right”* or “Fewer than two answers are* right”* — the computer figures >1=2+ and <2=1 so gets the wrong answer grammatically. – tchrist Aug 05 '13 at 12:49
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    @tchrist: My point is that someone might come to the incorrect conclusion, but not necessarily because they are "simplistically applying computer logic". There is no computer-style logic in the example that I specifically call out: more than one might be mistaken for a collective, just as company or team really are collectives. If someone sees the (correct!) headline "Manchester United are victorious", it isn't because of "simplistic application of computer logic" that one might conclude that are is correct for more than one. – John Y Aug 05 '13 at 15:34
  • In fact, I'd say that “simplistically applying computer logic” will get you the right answer for phrases like “Every one of them is not coming” even though the subject clearly refers to more than one person in the example. In contrast, a Brit might reasonably write, “The government are not coming to that conclusion” despite the singular noun. I don't think you can answer this question simply by pointing at the subject's root noun and saying, “See! It's singular!” I would say that the usage of one is somewhat special, but it's hard to find a general reference explicitly saying so. – Bradd Szonye Aug 10 '13 at 00:12
  • Just do not judge everything off-topic on the ngram numbers. Numbers do not justify everything. This is a place “for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts.” Let us talk together and make English more stable and reasonable. – Константин Ван Oct 18 '18 at 12:13

2 Answers2

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In English, grammatical number often follows the form of the sentence rather than its meaning, especially in cases where the meaning allows for a variable number in the subject. In those cases, the verb usually agrees with the syntactic number of the closest subject noun instead of the meaning of the whole noun phrase.

For example:

Some of them are not coming.
One or more of them are not coming.

These sentences means the same thing as your example. They both use a plural verb because the nearest subject nouns, some and more, are plural.

However, in your example, the nearest noun is singular:

At least one of them is not coming.

Therefore, the verb follows the same (singular) form as the noun, even though the noun phrase in the subject allows for the possibility of more than one.

Note that this rule affects both the number and person of the verb:

Either those jerks or I am not coming.

In this case, the verb is the first-person singular am because the nearest subject noun is the first-person singular I. However, many people would find this construction awkward and rewrite the sentence in a more natural way, perhaps:

Either those jerks aren't coming, or I'm not.

Bradd Szonye
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  • Alternately, one may simply have unique rules such that it's always singular, regardless of the meaning of the phrase, because it's – well – one. See also: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/35389/there-is-are-more-than-one-whats-the-difference – Bradd Szonye Aug 15 '13 at 15:22
  • I think it should be added that Either is the word that affects the number of your sentence and keeps it singular. It would be different if you were to say "Both those jerks and I are not coming." It's not enough to use the nearest noun, otherwise you could say "John and Sarah is here". But certain indefinite adjectives like either, every keep the collection in the singular. – Seth Jeffery Aug 20 '15 at 19:28
  • @SethJeffery It’s or that makes the difference, not either. When nouns linked by or differ in number, the nearest-noun rule applies. – Bradd Szonye Aug 24 '15 at 21:42
  • Ah, you're not wrong @Bradd Szonye ! :) – Seth Jeffery Aug 25 '15 at 08:39
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"At least one of them is not coming." The subject of the sentence is one.

Michael Owen Sartin
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