My painstaking grammarphobia is making me pull my hair out trying to figure wrap my head around the usage of "one of the most" and "some of the most".
Take for example:
-
A cheetah is ONE of the fastest animals on the planet. (Singular Subject)
-
Cheetahs are SOME of the fastest animals on the planet. (Plural Subject)
Then this should technically be wrong or less accurate, right?
- Cheetahs are ONE of the fastest animals on the planet. (Plural Subject)
(I feel like in this case, "one of the most" shouldn't be used and keep the sentence "Cheetahs are the fastest animals on the planet.")
The reason I ask is because I have run into this by somebody, who is supposed to be a skilled writer but could be wrong:
-
Cigarettes are ONE of the leading causes of lung cancer.
-
Cigarettes are SOME of the leading causes of lung cancer.
Grammatically, my logic is telling me that SOME should be used, but then there is another voice in my head saying ONE sounds better even though it’s not technically just one cigarette.
Best Answer
This is a question where descriptive and prescriptive grammarians are likely to disagree.
Sentences like
abound, even among the fully literate. So a descriptive grammarian will say the sentence above is grammatical. Of course, when interpreted literally, it makes no sense. What is meant that is grammatical, internally consistent with respect to number, and sensible is
A prescriptive grammarian might say the second sentence is preferable. A stylist would say the second sentence is preferable because it is more accurate: unsmoked cigarettes are not one of the leading causes of cancer. But ellipsis is part of English grammar: "smoking" will be understood. Even the most dogmatic of prescriptive grammarians would not approve
or
The first captures meaning correctly, but violates the grammatical rule demanding a plural verb after a plural subject. The second is grammatical but does not reflect intended meaning.
Grammar is the servant of meaning, and grammar trumps logic. The issue is that ellipsis creates an unnecessary conflict. Usage says "cigarettes are one of" is grammatical despite the mathematical inconsistency between plural subject and "one." The reason I dislike it is that it is excessively broad: what is meant is "smoking" or "smoking cigarettes" rather than the mere existence of cigarettes.
Ellipsis is also the problem in your cheetah example. What is meant is not cheetahs individually, but cheetahs as a species. What is meant is
Ellipsis permits
Grammar is not always mathematically consistent.