Any of You Interested in This?

 

Very often we hear expressions like 'One of his friends...', 'One of my books...' and so on. It goes without saying that this type of noun phrase should be treated as singular; we're talking only about that 'one', not the rest of 'his friends' or 'my books'. Though some people use a plural verb due to the proximity of the plural latter part of the phrase, it's generally not considered acceptable.

One of his friends has won an international award.

There's another somewhat similar pattern, which however calls for a plural verb.

She’s one of those people who never take no for an answer.

Here the relative clause starting with 'who' relates to all 'those people', not just the one person referred to as 'she' at the beginning of the sentence. However, in usage there are many examples where one finds a singular verb with this structure. Maybe it's the influence of the earlier pattern.

Then there are expressions with 'any of', which may take singular or plural verbs.

Do you know whether any of your friends is/are interested in joining us?
(In this type of sentence both singular and plural verbs can be seen, with the singular being preferred in formal situations.)

This is the case with 'none' as well.

None of their relatives was/were present at the party.

However, ‘any of’ or ‘none’ may only take either a singular or a plural verb in some contexts.

Any of those children is able to do it. (Any one of them is able to do it.)

Almost none of my friends believe that. (Very few of them believe that.)

On the other hand, in sentences with 'either' or 'neither', and both subjects in the singular, most still seem to prefer singular verbs; although plurals are also seen in informal use, some people hold that to be unacceptable.

Either your father or your mother has to accompany you.

Neither he nor his wife was willing to accept defeat.

If one of the two subjects is plural, the verb generally agrees with the one closer to it.

Either one girl or two boys are going to be selected.

Either two girls or one boy is going to be selected.

Another confusing case is when a singular subject is followed by a plural complement. Though the verb normally agrees with the subject, it may sometimes be made to match the complement instead if it's separated from the subject by several other words.

The most boring part was the meetings in the afternoon.

The most boring part of the workshop last week was/were the meetings in the afternoon.

What we need is/are some new members.

The following patterns are also worth noting.

A man and a woman are to come here tomorrow.

A man with two women is to come here tomorrow.

A man, together with two women, is to come here tomorrow.

A man, as well as two women, is to come here tomorrow.

A man or a woman is to come here tomorrow.

A man or two women are to come here tomorrow.

Two women or a man is to come here tomorrow.

Image credit:  Heisenberg Media

To Hit the Headlines

The title and other headings of a document are generally expected to stand out. So, among other things, people like to use some capital letters in them. But which letters do you put in upper case, and which not? There seem to be several styles in this regard.

Sometimes you find that all the letters of a title are capitalized.

THE RISE AND FALL OF SOCIALISM

In other cases, only the initial letter of a title is in capital form (unless of course it contains any other word - like a name - that must begin with a capital letter).

The rise and fall of socialism

The rainfall statistics of India

However, this pattern is sometimes preferred for sub-headings as the emphasis given in this manner is considered insufficient for main headings and titles. So some sources - in particular American ones -  favour a style where all the words of a main headline begin with a capital letter.

The Rise And Fall Of Socialism

Simple and effective as these methods are, they're not to everyone's liking. Some seem to think it's more appropriate to capitalize the initial letters of important words. The trouble begins when deciding which of the words should be considered important. Once again several different styles are in use. Let's see the common norms of this selective method first.

(1) Capitalize all nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, and subordinating conjunctions (if, because, as, that...).

(2) Capitalize the first and the last words no matter what type they are. 

Now we'll turn to what's not to be capitalized. One rule says that articles, prepositions and coordinating conjunctions (and, but, for, or, nor, yet, so - denoted by 'FANBOYS') are always lower case (unless of course they’re the first or the last word of the title). Although articles and coordinating conjunctions are treated like this by almost everyone using a selective capitalization style, there are differences when it comes to prepositions. While some such writers put them all in lower case, others tend to capitalize those with four letters or more; still others do so only when they have at least five letters.

Gone with the Wind
Gone With the Wind

Much Ado about Nothing 
Much Ado About Nothing

However, even a short preposition has to begin with a capital letters if it occurs as the last word.

Things We Are Proud Of

Care should also be taken not to put words like 'be' (verb), 'is' (verb) and 'it' (pronoun) in lower case just because they're short.

How to Be Punctual  

What It Is Supposed to Be in Ten Years 

Also consider the following:  

A Cruise up the Nile (Here 'up' functions as a preposition.) 

How to Put a Picture Up on a Wall (Here 'up' is an adverb for the verb 'put'.) 

How to Set Up a Computer (Here 'up' is part of the phrasal verb 'set up' - and used adverbially.)

So if you're not quite sure about the function of these short words in a particular context, it might be better to avoid the selective styles and settle for one of the methods mentioned earlier. And it's important to select your style and stick to it within a document.

(Image credit: Unlisted Sightings)