One of those people who iron whose clothes?

Question

For a change I have a question which is not about subject-verb agreement.
I was talking to someone, and the subject of ironing came up. At a point I said "I'm not one of those people who iron..", but got stumped, not knowing how to properly continue the sentence.

I thought of saying "I'm not one of those people who iron their clothes", but what I wanted to mention that I don't ironing my clothes, not that I don't ironing other people's clothes (though I don't, but that wasn't my point). Saying "her clothes", and especially "his clothes" would carry the same issue.
However saying "I'm not one of those people who iron my clothes" would indicate that there are some people ironing my clothes, and I'm not one of them. No one irons my clothes, and that's fine.

Now, I guess that one of these options are bound to be right, but which one?

Nikitta a.a. #1759 Apatriot(No, not apricot)#18
ICQ# 251532856
Unreferenced footnotes: http://www.nut.house.cx/cgi-bin/nemwiki.pl?ISFN "Woah- leave me out of this! I am a Brussels sprouts agnostic- i.e., not entirely sure they actually exist. Never seen one cooked IRL." Catherine Caruso (AFV)

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]For a change I have a question which is not about subject-verb agreement. I was talking to someone, and the ... clothes, and that's fine. Now, I guess that one of these options are bound to be right, but which one?[/nq]
I'm not one of those people who iron their own clothes either. Of course, if I were to say that, I would say "I'm not one of those people that iron their own clothes."

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]For a change I have a question which is not about subject-verb agreement. I was talking to someone, and the ... "I'm not one of those people who iron their clothes", but what I wanted to mention that I don't ironing[/nq]
iron
[nq:1]my clothes, not that I don't ironing[/nq]
iron (the gerund doesn't work here)
[nq:1]other people's clothes (though I don't, but that wasn't my point). Saying "her clothes", and especially "his clothes" would carry ... one of them. No one irons my clothes, and that's fine. Now, I guess that one of these options are[/nq]
is
[nq:1]bound to be right, but which one?[/nq]
"iron their clothes" is correct.
If there is a class of "people who iron their clothes" and you are not one of them, it is entirely correct, both as grammar and as usage, to say that you "are not one of those people who iron their clothes." It's the same as if some people are vegetarians and some are not. If you say "I am not a vegetarian," that should be clear to everyone. If you change it to "I am not one of those people who refuse to eat meat," you're saying basically the same thing, just in different words.
There is a separate controversy over whether the verb in the dependent clause ("iron" in this case) should be singular or plural. We recently had a long and agonizing discussion of this topic. My position is that "who" is the subject of the clause and takes its grammatical number from its antecedent, which (except in unusual cases) is the substantive that immediately precedes it (here "people," a plural). Because "people" is plural, "who" is plural, and the verb that follows is plural "iron."
That's my position, but others contend otherwise. I hope, since we've been through this at length within the last month, that we don't have to go through the whole thing all over again.

Bob Lieblich
Fingers crossed

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I thought of saying "I'm not one of those people who iron their clothes", but what I wanted to mention that I don't ironing my clothes, not that I don't ironing other people's clothes (though I don't, but that wasn't my point).[/nq]
Eeep! I meant to write "I'm not ironing". Sorry about the mistake. I know the other form is completely wrong.

Nikitta a.a. #1759 Apatriot(No, not apricot)#18
ICQ# 251532856
Unreferenced footnotes: http://www.nut.house.cx/cgi-bin/nemwiki.pl?ISFN "Woah- leave me out of this! I am a Brussels sprouts agnostic- i.e., not entirely sure they actually exist. Never seen one cooked IRL." Catherine Caruso (AFV)

Usenet · Answer

MEow (Email Removed) wrote on 15 Dec 2003:
[nq:1]For a change I have a question which is not about subject-verb agreement. I was talking to someone, and the ... clothes, and that's fine. Now, I guess that one of these options are bound to be right, but which one?[/nq]
"their clothes": "I'm not one of those people who iron their own clothes". Or, "I'm not {a person / someone} who irons his own clothes" for males and "I'm not a {a person / someone} who irons her own clothes" for females. Or, "I don't iron my own clothes" for anyone.

Franke: EFL teacher & medical editor.

Usenet · Answer

I know. I slipped, even though I did proof-read my post.
[nq:2]other people's clothes (though I don't, but that wasn't my ... fine. Now, I guess that one of these options are[/nq]
[nq:1]is[/nq]
****! I must've gotten confused by the verb being so close to the plural form.
[nq:2]bound to be right, but which one?[/nq]
[nq:1]"iron their clothes" is correct. If there is a class of "people who iron their clothes" and you are not ... not one of those people who refuse to eat meat," you're saying basically the same thing, just in different words.[/nq]
Okay, thanks to anyone helping me with this.
Another question in the same vein:
If I was saying "I'm not one of those people who hide under their bed/s, when there's a thunderstorm" (to take a random example), should "bed" then be plural or singular?

Nikitta a.a. #1759 Apatriot(No, not apricot)#18
ICQ# 251532856
Unreferenced footnotes: http://www.nut.house.cx/cgi-bin/nemwiki.pl?ISFN "Woah- leave me out of this! I am a Brussels sprouts agnostic- i.e., not entirely sure they actually exist. Never seen one cooked IRL." Catherine Caruso (AFV)

Usenet · Answer

I would use singular, and instead of 'their bed', I would use 'the bed'.

john

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]For a change I have a question which is not about subject-verb agreement. I was talking to someone, and the ... said "I'm not one of those people who iron..", but got stumped, not knowing how to properly continue the sentence.[/nq]
No need to speak further.
"I'm not one of those people who iron" says it all.
John Dean
Oxford
De-frag to reply

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]I was talking to someone, and the subject of ironing ... got stumped, not knowing how to properly continue the sentence.[/nq]
[nq:1]No need to speak further. "I'm not one of those people who iron" says it all.[/nq]
I wish that was true, but sometimes I have to iron, at work.
Nikitta a.a. #1759 Apatriot(No, not apricot)#18
ICQ# 251532856
Unreferenced footnotes: http://www.nut.house.cx/cgi-bin/nemwiki.pl?ISFN "Woah- leave me out of this! I am a Brussels sprouts agnostic- i.e., not entirely sure they actually exist. Never seen one cooked IRL." Catherine Caruso (AFV)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]No need to speak further. "I'm not one of those people who iron" says it all.[/nq]
[nq:1]I wish that was true, but sometimes I have to iron, at work.[/nq]
But that doesn't mean you're 'one of those people who iron'. I'm not one of those people who garden, but I occasionally have to do stuff in the garden. It's all in the mind.

John Dean
Oxford
De-frag to reply

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]I wish that was true, but sometimes I have to iron, at work.[/nq]
[nq:1]But that doesn't mean you're 'one of those people who iron'. I'm not one of those people who garden, but I occasionally have to do stuff in the garden. It's all in the mind.[/nq]
I see what you mean. Good point.

Nikitta a.a. #1759 Apatriot(No, not apricot)#18
ICQ# 251532856
Unreferenced footnotes: http://www.nut.house.cx/cgi-bin/nemwiki.pl?ISFN "Woah- leave me out of this! I am a Brussels sprouts agnostic- i.e., not entirely sure they actually exist. Never seen one cooked IRL." Catherine Caruso (AFV)

One of those people who iron whose clothes?

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions