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Tashiro Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

Preposition

Hi, teachers. Please help me.

"One of the boys who didn’t know how to swim fell into the lake."

Which does the relative clause modify in the sentence above, one or boys?
  

Top answer

Boys , grammatically. One , notionally. The sentence needs recasting.

— Mister Micawber

  • Boys , grammatically.
  • One , notionally.
  • The sentence needs recasting.
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6 Answers
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Boys, grammatically. One, notionally. The sentence needs recasting.
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I think this is a good case for demonstration of punctuation.

One of the boys, who didn't know how to swim, fell into the lake. [one is the antecedent]

One of the boys who didn't know how to swim fell into the lake. [boys is the antecedent]

This is not the only way of analyzing the sentences, and it may not be accepted by everyone, but it makes sense to m
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Thank both of you for the answers.

If I want to modify the One, Is it possible to say, "One who of the boys didn’t know how to swim fell into the lake."
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tashiroone or boys?
boys. This is made clearer in the present tense.

One of the boys who don't know how to swim is falling into the lake.

This shows that there is a group of boys, and none of the boys in that group know how to swim.
_____________

You can also have, however,

One of the boys, who d
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tashiroIs it possible to say, "One who of the boys ...
No. That would be very strange!

CJ
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