This is another article written specifically to help visitors to our blog avoid some common grammar mistakes and improve their spoken English skills. In this piece, we will focus on a common mistake that we keep hearing and reading from so many English speakers these days: the use of “one of the….” in sentences.

To start with, let us take some examples of the type of sentences that you may come across in everyday conversation. Pay specific attention to the words that are in bold and italicised.

• One of my friend has a shop.
• One of the place we went to is......
• One of the person I want to meet is Amitabh Bachchan.
• That is one of the thing I need to do.
• One of the best movie of Shah Rukh Khan is Swades.

Before we point out the grammar mistake in the above set of sentences, let us first understand when we use “one of”.  It is used when we are referring to someone or something specific among many others. In simpler terms, the “one of” is referring to something singular, while the ‘item’ being referred to has to be its plural form. 

Here is a simple example of this. Let us say that you have 4 books, out of which one is torn. If you say, “One of my four book is torn”, do you think the sentence would be grammatically correct? Obviously not as you can see clearly, because the plural four does not go with the singular book.  The same logic applies to all of the above sentences that we have shared above.

Let’s write what the correct forms should be:

• One of my friends has a shop.
• One of the places we went to is........
• One of the actors I want to meet is Amitabh Bachchan.
• That is one of the things I need to do.
• One of the best movies of Shah Rukh Khan is Swades.
• One of my four books is torn.

Do also note that we have used “is” and not “are” above because the action is related to “one” (another common English grammar mistake). To highlight this, look at the two identical examples below:

• One of the best movies of Shah Rukh Khan is.....
• Two of the best movies of Shah Rukh Khan are  Swades and Chak De.

Hope this gives a clear understanding of one of the most common mistakes that people make while speaking English, and will help you avoid the same errors.

If you have not seen some recent articles in our ‘English grammar mistakes’ series, do check out the articles on the correct use of words such as “did”, and “been” and “being”.

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-By Chander Madan