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Mrs. Bluezette's |
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Friday, July 30, 2010 Mrs. B wants you to look at what "ABC World News" correspondent David Wright said:
And here's the graphic that went with the story:
Oops. Here's what David should have said: ~One out of four air traffic controllers, at any given control center, is barely out of training. One out of any number always takes a singular verb. Here's the graphic corrected: ~1 out of 4 air traffic controllers is barely out of training In each example, "out of 4 air traffic controllers" is a prepositional phrase modifying the subject "one." So it should be disregarded when deciding on the verb. Here's another mistake, this one on The Detroit Free Press's website:
That should be: ~One out of 10 Americans says he or she is ex-Catholic. Again, "one" is the subject; "out of 10 Americans" is a prepositional phrase modifying "one." Now please spend a moment considering this "one" quotation:
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