One third of the three people is/are? (2025)

Hello,

It is my pleasure to post my 1st question here. I have been getting tons of great help from this site and it is very helpful when I teach English to the students in Korea.

I have met a very smart student recently and he asked me whether he had to treat 'One thrid of the three people' as a singular or plural. I believe a singular or a plural is determined based on the noun coming after. If the noun is plura lthen so is the verb, if the noun is singular then so is the verb.

However, the actual number after calculation is 1 while 'the three people' is plural in this case.
Then, can I tell him that we can say 'One thrid of the three people has given me presents'? Or, it should still stick to the grammar rule saying 'One third of the three people have given me presents.'?

Thank you for your advice in advance.

I would say that it takes the plural nonetheless, because you're discussing about several objects, and not about a part of a single object. The fact that one-third happens to be one person I think is only semantics, not grammar.

I bet others have a lot to say about this, and I also think this has been discussed on other threads too.

Welcome, by the way!

It is unlikely that anyone would say 'one third of the three people' - 'one of the three people' would naturally be followed by a singular verb.

This thread is a good starting point for looking at the use of verbs after fractions.

Sunny C said:

Hello,

It is my pleasure to post my 1st question here. I have been getting tons of great help from this site and it is very helpful when I teach English to the students in Korea.

I have met a very smart student recently and he asked me whether he had to treat 'One thrid of the three people' as a singular or plural. I believe a singular or a plural is determined based on the noun coming after. If the noun is plura lthen so is the verb, if the noun is singular then so is the verb.

However, the actual number after calculation is 1 while 'the three people' is plural in this case.
Then, can I tell him that we can say 'One thrid of the three people has given me presents'? Or, it should still stick to the grammar rule saying 'One third of the three people have given me presents.'?

Thank you for your advice in advance.

Click to expand...

T

vincix said:

I would say that it takes the plural nonetheless, because you're discussing about several objects, and not about a part of a single object. The fact that one-third happens to be one person I think is only semantics, not grammar.

I bet others have a lot to say about this, and I also think this has been discussed on other threads too.

Welcome, by the way!

Click to expand...

Thank you so much for your prompt response. More and more time I spend on thinking about this, I also have a similar answer to what you have said.
I'm sorry that I failed to find other threads. I guess I need more practice running through it.
Thank you again!'

Szkot said:

It is unlikely that anyone would say 'one third of the three people' - 'one of the three people' would naturally be followed by a singular verb.

This thread is a good starting point for looking at the use of verbs after fractions.

Click to expand...

Thank you for your kind reply!
Yes, Indeed! I found the thread you mentioned and that was where I started to get to know this place and be impressed by all the good discussions.
Even though it had provided the answer, my student had bigger curiosity with the specific situation with 3 people and that's where I got confused also.
I agree with you on saying noboy would say like that. I told my student like that already but I think he will love this whole discussion if I tell him again.