# Grammar question: One or more has/have? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 16, 2008, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-one-or-more-has-have/433747 "2008-01-16T15:48:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2008, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-one-or-more-has-have/433747/1 "2008-01-16T15:48:54Z")
I wrote the following sentence: One or more of these has to be blue. (OK, I just made that up.) My thinking was the primary subject is “One” and the secondary subject is “or more” and the verb/subject agreement should be _One of these has to be blue_. MSWord said it should be “have”. I don’t really have any emotion attached to my choice, I just want to be sure I understand the rule. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2008, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-one-or-more-has-have/433747/2 "2008-01-16T15:50:15Z")
At least one has to be true. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2008, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-one-or-more-has-have/433747/3 "2008-01-16T16:05:37Z")
I’d go with “has,” for the reason you state. twicks, who likes to think her grammar is better than a computer program’s. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2008, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-one-or-more-has-have/433747/4 "2008-01-16T18:38:41Z")
[QUOTE=Khadaji] I wrote the following sentence: One or more of these has to be blue. (OK, I just made that up.) My thinking was the primary subject is “One” and the secondary subject is “or more” and the verb/subject agreement should be _One of these has to be blue_. MSWord said it should be “have”. I don’t really have any emotion attached to my choice, I just want to be sure I understand the rule. [/QUOTE] Would you say: “One or two of these has to be blue.” “One or two of these have to be blue.” The answer to this question would dictate the answer to your question. Or, restate the sentence as follows: “One or more has to be blue.” “One or more have to be blue.” Which might help by removing the confusing intervening construction “of these.” ---
**Author:** ![Sprockets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/35a633/32.png) [@Sprockets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sprockets)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2008, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-one-or-more-has-have/433747/5 "2008-01-16T18:57:40Z")
I would also have to say “has.” It’s like when I say “Mary and I went to the store.” The reason it’s not “Mary and me” is that I"d never go anywhere with that slut. No, seriously, you break it down into “I went to the store” and “Mary went to the store.” Similarly, in “One or more of these has to be blue,” you would say “One of these has to be blue” and “More of these. . . .” Uh, wait, that doesn’t work. HELP ---
**Author:** ![cmurdough](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@cmurdough](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmurdough)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2008, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-one-or-more-has-have/433747/6 "2008-01-16T20:03:25Z")
How about: One or more of these must be true? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2008, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-one-or-more-has-have/433747/7 "2008-01-16T20:09:37Z")
For _one or more_ as the subject, I would go with _have_ as the verb because the usual thing is to have the verb agree with the last subject in a list of subjects joined by _or_. ---
**Author:** ![Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pasta)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2008, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-one-or-more-has-have/433747/8 "2008-01-16T20:11:00Z")
The rule is usually that the subject closer to the verb sets the number ==\> “have”. John or his sons have bought a new Wii. This is one of those cases where it is guaranteed that some fraction of your intended audience will be distacted by “has” and some fraction by “have”. You should go with the one that distacts either the smaller or less important set of people. ETA: I say “less important” here because of a similar situation I face with the “data is”/“data are” distinction. It’s usually the non-scientists who cringe at “data are”, but that is usually a non-critical part of the audience when I’m talking about data. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2008, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-one-or-more-has-have/433747/9 "2008-01-16T20:16:14Z")
[QUOTE=Monty] For _one or more_ as the subject, I would go with _have_ as the verb because the usual thing is to have the verb agree with the last subject in a list of subjects joined by _or_. [/QUOTE] I agree. I could swear the term for this is “proximal agreement,” but a search for that phrase on Google, along with “grammar,” only results in three hits. Granted, the three hits are on point, but there must be some other term for it that’s more widely accepted. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-one-or-more-has-have/433747/10 "2008-01-17T18:11:59Z")
From [Dictonary.com’s entry on _or_](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/or): > [@](#): > > _ **Usage Note** _: When all the elements in a series connected by _or_ are singular, the verb they govern is singular: _Tom or Jack is coming. Beer, ale, or wine is included in the charge._ When all the elements are plural, the verb is plural. When the elements do not agree in number, some grammarians have suggested that the verb should agree in number with the nearest element: _Tom or his sisters are coming. The girls or their brother is coming. Cold symptoms or headache is the usual first sign._ Other grammarians, however, have argued that such constructions are inherently illogical and that the only solution is to revise the sentence to avoid the problem of agreement: _Either Tom is coming or his sisters are. The usual first sign may be either cold symptoms or a headache._ See Usage Notes at [and/or](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/%20and/or), [either](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/%20either), [neither](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/%20neither), [nor[sup]1[/sup]](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/%20nor). ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-one-or-more-has-have/433747/11 "2008-01-17T18:30:43Z")
[QUOTE=pulykamell] I agree. I could swear the term for this is “proximal agreement,” but a search for that phrase on Google, along with “grammar,” only results in three hits. Granted, the three hits are on point, but there must be some other term for it that’s more widely accepted. [/QUOTE] [Agreement by proximity.](http://www.bartleby.com/64/C001/060.html) > [@](#): > > **agreement by proximity.** Certain grammatical constructions provide further complications. Sometimes the noun that is adjacent to the verb can exert more influence than the noun that is the grammatical subject. Selecting a verb in a sentence like _A variety of styles has been/have been in vogue for the last year_ can be tricky. The traditional rules require _has been_, but the plural sense of the noun phrase presses for _have been_. While 59 percent of the Usage Panel insists on the singular verb in this sentence, 22 percent actually prefer the plural verb and another 19 percent say that either _has_ or _have_ is acceptable, meaning that 41 percent find the plural verb with a singular grammatical subject to be acceptable. > > Sometimes syntax itself makes it impossible to follow the agreement rule. In a sentence like _Either John or his brothers are bringing the dessert_, the verb can’t agree with both parts of the subject. Some people believe that the verb should agree with the closer of the two subjects. This is called agreement by proximity. For more on this subject, see [either](http://www.bartleby.com/64/C001/026.html#EITHER1) and [or](http://www.bartleby.com/64/C001/045.html). _Note_: I changed the url in the last link in the 2nd quote because the original link goes to the pronunciation of the suffix _~or_, not to the lexical word _or_. I felt the need to edit the thing because this, after all, is the _Straight Dope_! Now a comment of my own on parallel construction: I think the agreement issue arises from over-applying or misapplying the use of parallel construction. For example: > [@](#): > > John is running. > John is looking over his shoulder. > > =\> John is running and looking over his shoulder. > =\> John is running or looking over his shoulder. This gives no problem with agreement. Now look at these two sentences conjoined by _or_: > [@](#): > > The women are running. > Jane is running. > > =\>Jane is running or the women are running. That last sentence gives no problem with agreement either. But if you (over-) apply parallel construction to it: > [@](#): > > The women or Jane is/are running. And that brings us to the issue of this thread. To think some people tell me Linguistics isn’t fun. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-one-or-more-has-have/433747/12 "2008-01-17T19:29:36Z")
[QUOTE=Sprockets] I would also have to say “has.” It’s like when I say “Mary and I went to the store.” The reason it’s not “Mary and me” is that I"d never go anywhere with that slut. No, seriously, you break it down into “I went to the store” and “Mary went to the store.” Similarly, in “One or more of these has to be blue,” you would say “One of these has to be blue” and “More of these. . . .” Uh, wait, that doesn’t work. HELP [/QUOTE] Not sure if you’re joking, but your example is different because the difference between “I” and “me” is that of subject/object. The difference between “has” and “have” is singular vs. plural. If two people are involved in a “Name and \” construction, they’ll always both be the object, or both be the subject. If two different quantities of things are joined by “or”, they might not be the same plurality. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2008, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question-one-or-more-has-have/433747/13 "2008-01-17T20:41:07Z")
Number, not plurality. Plurality is the state of being in the plural number. Also, some languages distinguish between singular, dual, plural, etc.