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Anonymous Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

Is or are

In the sentence "One in eight Americans are receiving food stamps" should it be are or should it be "one in eight Americans is receiving food stamps"

Thank you in advance for the help
  

Top answer

I was going to say IS, but I just googled it and it seems both IS and ARE are actually used on the internet. One in eight Americans is on food stamps. html One in eight Americans are over 65.

— Kooyeen

  • I was going to say IS, but I just googled it and it seems both IS and ARE are actually used on the internet.
  • One in eight Americans is on food stamps.
  • html One in eight Americans are over 65.
  • html I think IS should be better, and it's probably more common, but ARE doesn't sound too bad either, probably because of notional agreement.
  • I don't know.
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5 Answers
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I was going to say IS, but I just googled it and it seems both IS and ARE are actually used on the internet.

One in eight Americans is on food stamps.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elizabeth-warren/america-without-a-middle_b_377829.html
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AnonymousIn the sentence "One in eight Americans are receiving food stamps" should it be are or should it be "one in eight Americans is receiving food stamps"
I'm guessing that most grammar books and style guides would suggest One in eight Americans is receiving ....

Nevertheless, we might reason that it is not literally oneAmerican who
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This is a well known and much debated question that does not seem to have an answer everyone can agree on. I personally prefer "are" because it seems to me that the intention of "One in eight Americans" is to refer to a group of people, not one person.
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Hi,

Interestingly, if you say 'One out of every eight . . . ', to me 'is' is the only choice.

Clive
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CliveInterestingly, if you say 'One out of every eight . . . ', to me 'is' is the only choice.
Curious. I thought so too. But then I said it with are, then with is, then with are, then with is. Eventually I threw up my hands on this one, too.
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