Guest  +  54245 Mon, 08 Nov 04 09:23 PM We have a poster in our office which reads "one in five homeless people are employed." Our editor says the subject of the sentence is people and the verb should be are. I contend this is incorrect, and the sentence should read "one in five homeless people is employed," and the subject of the sentence is "one." can you opine? thanks! Guest Verbs

	Mister Micawber  +  54254 Mon, 08 Nov 04 10:45 PM You win. 'One' is the subject, with 'in five homeless people' a prepositional adjective modifier. I suppose one could make a case for one-in-five equalling 20%: '20% are employed'. But structured as it is, it seems to me obvious that 'one is employed'. Mister Micawber Joined on Wed, Aug 4 2004 Yokohama Veteran Member 30,840 'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master-- that's all.'