english quantifiers one of some of most of all of none of
Hi, today I have a top grammar tip for you..... an error that I see a lot as an English teacher
is with the expression "One of..." so in today's lesson we will look at how to use it with
confidence and never make a mistake with this structure again. I will also look at the expressions,
some of, most of, all of and none of. Keep watching until the end to do some exercises
to see how much you've learned.
So let's get started.
One of
One of my friends is Canadien.
So here even though we have a plural noun, "friends" we use the singular verb "is". This
is because we are talking about only one friend within a group of friends. The common error
is to see either "one of my friend is...." Or "one of my friends are.." So even though
the noun is plural we are refering to one of them and so the verb is in the singular.
We can replace the noun with a pronoun and say:
One of them has blonde hair.
Not one of them have blonde hair. error on voice over.
This expression can only be used with countable nouns. We can't say one of the water......
So remember one of plus plural noun followed by singular verb.....
Lets move onto some of most of all of and none of.
First these expressions are used to talk about a particular group of people or things and
not generally about something.
So with countable nouns we have
Some of the cars are red. we could say the or my or this etc here.
Or
Some of them have GPS. ( not some them have...)
Most of the cars are red. again we could say the or my or this etc here.
Or
Most of them have GPS. not most have them
All of the cars are red. again we could say the or my or this etc here.
All of them have GPS. ( not all them have …)
Finally none of is slightly different:
You can say:
None of the cars are red. or None of the cars is red.
And
None of them have GPS. or none of them has gps. ( not none them have )
No lets look at uncountable nouns. Remember Uncountable nouns cannot be plural and take
a singular verb.
So we say Some of the information was correct. Note no s on information and a singular verb
"was."
Some of it was correct.
Most of the luggage has arrived.
Note No s on luggage and a third person singular present perfect has arrived. Error on voiceover.
Or
Most of it arrived.
All of the rice was eaten.
All of it was eaten.
None of the petrol is paid for.
None of it is paid for.
If we are talking about people or things in general we can drop the the for both countable
and uncountable nouns.
So we say
Some hotels have a private beach. Hotels are countable.
Most dogs chase cats. countable
All hotels have bedrooms countable / all the hotels throughout the world.
All advice is useful. uncountable
No city is perfect.
Now its your turn
Blank teenagers watch TV ( use all and talk about teenagers in general and not a particular
group of teenagers)
All here we use no the as we are talking in general.
One of blank red. Use apples and to be .
One of the apples is red. Here with the expression one of we use a plural noun apples, followed
by a singular verb is.
None of the paintings …... modern . use the verb to be.
Here we can say are modern or is modern. Both answers are correct.
Congratulations you now know how to use the phrases one of , some of, most of , all of
and none of in English.
english quantifiers one of some of most of all of none of