“One of you are going home.”

Common English Blunders, Verbs

I heard this in a preview for a TV program that aired last night.

Problem:
The verb does not match the subject.

Explanation:
I was watching a preview for an upcoming episode of the “Hell’s Kitchen” television program when I heard chef Gordon Ramsay say, “One of you are going home.”

I believe that Ramsay succumbed to the common English blunder of getting distracted by the pronoun “you” right before saying a form of the verb “be”.

No matter whether the pronoun “you” is being used in its singular form or its plural form, “You are going home.” is correct.

But “you” is not the subject of the sentence.

Instead, the subject of the sentence is the word “One”, which acts in “One of you” as a singular noun that means a single person.

The solution comes from recognizing that singular nouns require the “is” form of the verb “be”.

Solution:
“One of you is going home.”