one of the, pronoun antecedent agreement, relative pronouns
Lindsay is one of my friends who are coming to the party.
Lindsay is the only one of my friends who is coming to the party.
In the first sentence, many people are coming so the pronoun "who" refers to the plural "friends." The verb paired with "who" is therefore plural: "are."
In the second sentence, only one person is coming so the pronoun "who" refers to the singular "Lindsay." The verb paired with "who" is therefore singular: "is."
When you encounter a noun phrase with the structure "one of [plural noun] who," look for "only” before the phrase.
- If “only” is not present, the verb that follows should be plural.
- If “only” is present, the verb that follows should be singular.
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