# one in three people is or one in three people are?



## Kell (May 28, 2002)

I was under the impression that it should be "One in three people is ..." as you're talking about one person i.e. One person is thinking about X.

Thoughts?


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## brian1978 (Jul 10, 2013)

I agree.


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## NaughTTy (Jul 9, 2003)

Is


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## davelincs (Jan 1, 2010)

is


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## A3DFU (May 7, 2002)

Is. No question about it. 
One person is singular. 'Is' is singular. 'Are' on the other hand is plural


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## Lollypop86 (Oct 26, 2013)

But you don't say "you is" you say "you are"......

J
Xx


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## Nyxx (May 1, 2012)

Lollypop86 said:


> But you don't say "you is" you say "you are"......
> 
> J
> Xx


Good point, You "is" right :wink:


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## Lollypop86 (Oct 26, 2013)

Lol I'm just sayin is all lol these punctuation rules are a contradiction in themselves lol

J
Xx


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## Nyxx (May 1, 2012)

Very true,
You are right :wink:


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## Lollypop86 (Oct 26, 2013)

Don't say that otherwise spandex will be along! Lol

J
Xx


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## Nyxx (May 1, 2012)

well we can ask him

Are you alright?

Or should we say

Spandex is you alright?


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## Lollypop86 (Oct 26, 2013)

No I'm alleft 

J
Xx


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## Nyxx (May 1, 2012)

:lol: and I thought you was all right 

BTW it has to be "one in three are"


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## Bartsimpsonhead (Aug 14, 2011)

One person is on their own - three people are all together.

One in three people are... As they are a group.

One person in three is... As he/she is singular.

I think that's how it works.


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## Lollypop86 (Oct 26, 2013)

What about you is......lol

I am all right just in a funny mood lol

J
Xx


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## Bartsimpsonhead (Aug 14, 2011)

I thought you Yoda were


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## Lollypop86 (Oct 26, 2013)

I think that just went straight over my head lol

J
Xx


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## A3DFU (May 7, 2002)

Lollypop86 said:


> But you don't say "you is" you say "you are"......
> 
> J
> Xx


He/she/it is: third person singular

Singular:
I am
You are 
He/she/it is

Plural:
We are
You are
They are

That's the declension table of the verb 'to be' in the present tense. Guess you learnt that in English grammar?


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## Spandex (Feb 20, 2009)

I'd have gone with "one in three are", because you're not referring to the one, you're referring to a group which is a third of the population. The same as saying "33% of people are", etc.


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## A3DFU (May 7, 2002)

Spandex said:


> "33% of people are", etc.


That's correct because 33% refers to plural.


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## John-H (Jul 13, 2005)

Interesting. I think it depends on context of surrounding words which might change the subject and plurality in the phrase. For example:

"One in three people are women..."
"One in three people is a woman..."
"One in three people are representative of a third of our 900 members..."
"One in thee people is a representative fraction of our 900 members..."
"One in three people are Lancastrians... "
"One in three people is a Lancastrian..."

If the subject is plural then "are" is correct. Sometimes "one" is the subject and singular but "one in three" can be the referred subject as a fraction so singular if referred to as such but if you are talking about a group then it's plural so "are" is correct. I think it's even arguable that "one" can't be the subject in one case as "one" can't mathematically represent 300 so must be plural!


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## A3DFU (May 7, 2002)

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=2085705


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## Kell (May 28, 2002)

In this instance, the phrase is:

1 in 3 Britons say austerity has made people more ruthless.

I reckon it should be "says".


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## igotone (Mar 10, 2010)

Kell said:


> In this instance, the phrase is:
> 
> 1 in 3 Britons say austerity has made people more ruthless.
> 
> I reckon it should be "says".


Agreed. I'd go with "is" for your earlier example.


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## Kell (May 28, 2002)

Kell said:


> In this instance, the phrase is:
> 
> 1 in 3 Britons say austerity has made people more ruthless.
> 
> I reckon it should be "says".


However, what I would do if it was me that was writing it would be to recast it as

A third of Britons say ...

or

33% of Britons say ...

as I reckon Britons say sound more correct than Britons says and I think that's where the confusion arises.

I take Spandex's point above in that although this says 1 it's actually referring to a group - albeit expressed in LCD. It always causes confusion when you have a group of people expressed a singular unit.

The England team is ...
The committee says ...
Our staff is ...

All correct, but most of the time you'll them expressed as:

The England team are ...
The committee say ...
Our staff are ...


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## Lollypop86 (Oct 26, 2013)

Kell said:


> In this instance, the phrase is:
> 
> 1 in 3 Britons say austerity has made people more ruthless.
> 
> I reckon it should be "says".


not its not says that even sounds chav......

J
xx


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## jdn (Aug 26, 2002)

Where is Kell these days?

Often amusing posts - made me wonder where he has been.


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## A3DFU (May 7, 2002)

No doubt busy with the family


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