"one of ..." singular or plural?

Question

One of the former student

One of the former students

Which one is correct, and why? Can any one explain it clearly?

one of the former students = one of many (at least more than one student), thus - plural form. — Rossitten, Dec 12 '15 at 06:47
@sradha If there is only one student, you can't use it. You could refer to him/her using my former student. — , Dec 12 '15 at 07:10

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 12 '15 at 08:25

1

One of the former students. "One of" refers to a group. The group that follows is plural. "Students" is plural of "student."

Consider the statement, "one of the team." A team is a group. It can be referred to as singular or plural, depending on the context. In this case, the sentence refers to a larger entity which "one" is part of.

"Students" in the instance you refer to is the larger entity.

answered Dec 12 '15 at 08:25

ann2

165

Please vote to my question ,so that I can vote up your post,I do not have much reputation, as I am new to this site. – Shaddy Dec 12 '15 at 10:07
@sradha But the whole purpose of voting / reputation is to maintain standards and indicate how reliable answers are likely to be. Your question is not really suitable for ELU. There are many other websites where it might well be acceptable. – Edwin Ashworth Dec 12 '15 at 12:10

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 12 '15 at 08:46

In the expression "One of the former student", the speaker employs "one" to refer to one student out of a group of two or more former students. When the constituents of that group are referred to, they cannot be referred to in singular (that is, as "former student"). So, this expression is incorrect.

In the expression "one of the former students", the constituents of the group are referred in plural (that is, as "former students"). So, this expression is correct.

"one of ..." singular or plural?

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