"1 in 5 students uses tobacco."
What is the subject?
What is the prepositional object of "in"?
What part of speech is "5"?
What part of speech is "students"?
I don't need a re-wording of the meaning.
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The slight modification "One student in five uses tobacco" avoids the dilemma nicely.– Brian DonovanCommented Nov 30, 2014 at 16:46
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I think you've turned something very simple into a complex question. It must be a singular verb because it refers to "one student".– CentaurusCommented Nov 30, 2014 at 16:47
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@Centaurus While I think the subject probably is "1" (singular) "in 5 students" messes things-up. It might be possible that the subject is "students" (plural) and "1 in 5" just modifies the plural subject? How can the prepositional object be explained?– user312440Commented Nov 30, 2014 at 16:53
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"One student (in a universe of 5) uses tobacco" That's what the sentence means.– CentaurusCommented Nov 30, 2014 at 16:58
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1This isn't a duplicate any more, but it should remain closed because (1) asking four questions in one makes it unanswerable and (2) all of them are General Reference.(Homework questions are also discouraged, since internet answers destroy the value of the homework.)– Tim LymingtonCommented Nov 30, 2014 at 18:51
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1 Answer
Good analysis! You are correct on your first impression. The subject of the sentence is that single student, ergo "uses", the singular form, is correct.
Interestingly, both your proposed structures for the role of "5" are valid English expressions though some might debate relative merits of style. In your original sentence, 5 functions as an adjective modifying students; in the second, I believe it used to be called using an adjectival noun. Simply put, it's a noun, therefore it can be taken as the object of the preposition "in". Context is what informs the reader or listener the answer to the question "five of what," similar to how a pronoun needs context in other independent clauses or sentences to make sense but grammatically stands as correct within its own clause.