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I need backup in pressing my case that the phrase “choose from one of four options” is grammatically incorrect. Is there some resource that can prove my case, that the incorrect phrase should be replaced with one of the two following ones?
- Choose one of four options
- Choose from four options
As in the other responses, this isn't a case of being grammatically wrong, rather it is semantically wrong. Noam Chomsky long ago observed that grammatically valid constructions can still be "wrong" because of the meaning of the particular words used. ("Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.")
It would be correct (if odd) to ask someone to "...choose from three out of four options"--meaning that there are four total options, but you are limiting the choice to being between a subset of them. Thus, the problem with "chose from one out of four" is not that it is wrong grammatically, but instead that when the subset is restricted to consist of one option, there is no choice to be made.
For your case, any of the suggestions in Martha's comment are a better way of communicating your intent.
Dunno if it's grammatically incorrect, sounds more logically incorrect to me, but to be honest I did have to think about it a bit. I think in conversation I wouldn't even have noticed.
It's wrong. I came to this page because of a similar sentence I found in an 8th grade science project. It was "Choose from one of the following." I think it should have read "Choose one from the following:".
