She is one of the girls . . .

Question

1. She is one of the girls who smokes a lot. Correct =&gt; this is correct because maybe I want to emphasize the word "girls".2. She is one of the girls who smoke a lot. Correct =&gt; this is correct because maybe I want to emphasize the word "one".3. She is one of the girls, who smoke a lot. Wrong =&gt; this is wrong because the second part of the clause after comma as a nonrestrictive clause should only emphasize "one" not "girls".4. She is one of the girls, who smokes a lot. Correct =&gt;this is correct because the second part of the clause after comma as a nonrestrictive clause should only emphasize "one" not "girls".No source Self-made grammar question Hello, Is my analysis right about these four similar sentences? Thank you.

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

Only #2 is acceptable to me.

Sb70012 · Answer

I corrected 1 and 2. I had made a typo in 1 and 2.

What about now?

Mister Micawber · Answer

sb700121. She is one of the girls who smokes a lot. Correct => this is correct because maybe I want to emphasize the word "girls".

No, it does not emphasize 'girls', and the grammar is wrong.

sb700122. She is one of the girls who smoke a lot. Correct => this is correct because maybe I want to emphasize the word "one".

That does not emphasize 'one' so far as I can see, but the grammar is right: there are girls who smoke, and she is one of them.

sb700123. She is one of the girls, who smoke a lot. Wrong => this is wrong because the second part of the clause after comma as a nonrestrictive clause should only emphasize "one" not "girls".

You're right, it is wrong, but not for the reason you give. The clause, if used, must be restrictive (i.e., without the comma).

sb700124. She is one of the girls, who smokes a lot. Correct =>this is correct because the second part of the clause after comma as a nonrestrictive clause should only emphasize "one" not "girls".

No, sorry, that is not correct, either; it is simply bad organization. Presumably it means this:

She is one of the girls, and she smokes a lot.

That, of course, says nothing about the other girls' bad habits.

sb70012Is my analysis right about these four similar sentences?

I doubt it. In any case, only #2 is a correct sentence.

Sb70012 · Answer

Thanks for answering but my analysis was based on the examples of native English speakers. Once two native English speakers in WR forum had said that:

A)That is one of the latest movies in Australia, which has not been released in theaters yet. correct
B)That is one of the latest movies in Australia, which have not been released in theaters yet. wrong
C)Shelling is one of those things that makes life in parts of Syria unbearable. correct
D)Shelling is one of those things that make life in parts of Syria unbearable. correct
Source: http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/one-of-the-latest-movies-which-have-or-which-has.2630476/#post-13266717

According to the above guidance, I say to myself that:

#1 is correct because of D. (they have the same construction)
#2 is correct because of C. (they have the same construction)
#3 is wrong because of B. (they have the same construction)
#4 is correct because of A. (they have the same construction)

You see my confusion now? My examples are the same as A, B, C and D. I'm confused.
I would be grateful if you help me with this confusion.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

You need to understand post-modification patterns where there is more than one possible antecedent for a relative pronoun. It is based on the association of semantic (meaningful) units. This happens in the brain as it process the text.

A)That is [ one of the latest movies in Australia] [which has not been released in theaters yet].

The pronoun phrase (bracketed) is one semantic unit. That is the way we are identifying one item.
"which" refers to the pronoun "one"
The verb "has" is singular, coordinating to the singular "one".

The phrasing in B is untenable. If you want "which" to refer to movies, then write something like this:
There are many recent movies which have not been released in theaters in Australia yet. This is one of them.

In that sentence, which directly follows its antecedent.

C and D both work because two readings or phrasings make sense.

Noun phrases such as "things that go bump in the night", "things that make me go crazy", and "things that I hate to do" are common expressions that hang together as a semantic unit. Also, there is no distracting prepositional phrase in between.

So besides the phrasing as in A above, the second phrasing also makes sense.

C) Shelling is [ one of those things ] [ that ( antecedent is "one") makes life in parts of Syria unbearable.]
D) Shelling is one [ of those things ( antecedent is "things" ) that make life in parts of Syria unbearable] .

She is one of the girls . . .

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