How to change this sentence to modify another object

Question

I spoke to one of the policemen who has left the crime scene.

"who has left the crime scene" modifies "one of the policemen".

How can I change the sentence to modify "the policemen" instead of "one of .."? Can the sentence be changed to mean "I spoke to one of the policemen, and all policemen have left the crime scene"?

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

I spoke to one of the policemen who has left the crime scene.

"who has left the crime scene" modifies "one of the policemen".

How can I change the sentence to modify "the policemen" instead of "one of .."? Can the sentence be changed to mean "I spoke to one of the policemen, and all policemen have left the crime scene"?

I'm not sure about the Present Perfect here, or about the basic sequence of events.

Did he leave after you spoke to him? Or before, in which case I assume you spoke to him in some other location, eg back at the police station?

'Who has' indicates one. 'Who have' indicates more than one.

But if you change it to 'who had', this distinction is no longer available.

The simplest approach, and perhaps the most natural, is to say something like this.

The policemen had left the crime scene. I spoke to one of them.

The policemen had left the crime scene. I spoke to them.

Clive

Anonymous · Answer

I HAVE CHECKED MY GRAMMAR BOOK BEFORE POSTING.

I think that the "correct" answer is:

I spoke with one of the policemen who have [already] left

the crime scene.

I believe that most grammar books would say that the adjective

clause definitely modifies "policemen."

Avangi · Answer

I'm not sure there's a clear answer.
The plural "policemen" is surely closest to the verb.
It seems to me that by chosing the singular verb, you could indicate that you intend to refer to the "one" with whom you spoke.
On the other hand, you'd probably need a comma after policemen, to make the relative clause non-essential.
The singular is awkward, at best.

Edit. Sorry, I misunderstood what you meant by "correct."

I spoke to one of the policemen who has left the crime scene.

If your assignment is to make "who" refer to all of the policemen, of course you'd use the plural verb.

BillJ · Answer

Candy ChiuI spoke to one of the policemen who has left the crime scene.

"who has left the crime scene" modifies "one of the policemen".

How can I change the sentence to modify "the policemen" instead of "one of .."? Can the sentence be changed to mean "I spoke to one of the policemen, and all policemen have left the crime scene"?

You can't (and why would you want to anyway?). 'Policemen' refers to a group of police officers, and the phrase 'one' refers to one officer belonging to that group. In this context, you can't separate him from the group that he is a part of. The qualities ascribed to the group as a whole apply equally to its individual members, so the act of leaving is individual and several.

BillJ

Candy Chiu · Answer

Let's try another sentence:

The officers inspect the motorcycle of one of the patrolmen who was shot.

Here "who was shot" modifies "one of the patrolmen". The motorcycle belongs the patrolman who was shot. The sentence didn't specify what had happened to the other patrolmen. How may I change the sentence to mean:

The officers inspect one of the motorcycles which belong to a group of patrolmen who were shot.

In this sentence, all the patrolmen were shot, not only the one whose motorcycle is inspected by the officers.

Candy Chiu · Answer

AnonymousI HAVE CHECKED MY GRAMMAR BOOK BEFORE POSTING.

I think that the "correct" answer is:

I spoke with one of the policemen who have [already] left

the crime scene.

I believe that most grammar books would say that the adjective

clause definitely modifies "policemen."

According to page 373 of the Grammar Bible, "who has left" modifies the singular "one of ..", not the plural "the policemen".

Does "I spoke with one of the policemen, who have left the crime scene" work?

Avangi · Answer

Candy ChiuDoes "I spoke with one of the policemen, who have left the crime scene" work?

I'm sure there are varying opinions about the ralationship between the antecedent of "who" and the essential/non-essential nature of the relative clause.

My personal sense of it is that this particular version should not use the comma.

Some of them left; some of them didn't.
The one you spoke to is a member of the group who left.
Whether you spoke to him before or after he left is irrelevant.

If you use the comma, it means they have all left, and it's a terrible sentence.

As Clive pointed out earlier, you can switch to past perfect and change the whole configuration.

You need to decide which variables you can change and which you can't:
singular/plural subject/verb
present perfect/past perfect
essential clause/non-essential clause

How to change this sentence to modify another object

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