[Ads-l] =?utf-8?Q?=E2=80=8B1_?=in 10 women has this sexual disorder...

[Laurence Horn]

> On Feb 11, 2019, at 1:07 AM, W Brewer <brewerwa at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> Reader’s Digest ad:  "1 in 10 women has this sexual disorder -- and doesn't
> even know it."
> And they doesn't even know it!?!

Well, if “1 in 10 women has” it, rather than “have” it, I think the “doesn’t” pretty much follows.  The alternative is

“I in 10 women have this sexual disorder--and don’t even know it”

Also possible, I think, and maybe more natural.  On the other hand, I find “I woman in 10” requires the singular construal for both verbs.   

> At first blush, my brain says,
> {one-in-ten} must take plural verb agreement; number attraction. After
> all, one-in-ten women = roughly 385,728,846 women.
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org