Once which grammar

But we also use one as a pronoun, and this is where one becomes surprisingly complex. As a pronoun, one can also function in an impersonal, objective manner, standing for the writer or for all people who are like the writer or for the average person or for all people who belong to a class.

In the United States, one sometimes has a literary or highfalutin feel to it; the more it is used, the more pretentious it feels. In British English, the use of the impersonal or generic one is more commonplace and has no such stigma. In the U. When the pronoun one is used in the numerical sense, a different pronoun can be used in a subsequent reference.

In British English, they are commonplace:. On the other hand, the problem with using "his" is obvious: it runs counter to the tendency to remove gender bias from one's language as much as possible. Notice there is usually no apostrophe used in the spelling of oneself. The construction one's self is used to refer to the concept of self in psychology, for instance : "One's self, according to Freud, is defined by the interactions of the id, the ego, and the super-ego.

As a singular numerical pronoun, we don't have trouble with one : "Those donuts look delicious; I think I'll pick this one. It is possible, sometimes, to pluralize one :. When the word ones is preceded by a plural determiner like these , we usually drop the ones and the determiner turns into a demonstrative pronoun : "Do you want these? The "one" in the phrase "more than one" apparently controls the number of the verb. It is probably wise not to attempt to divine some of the mysteries of the English language.

In a recently published collection of language columns by William Safire, No Uncertain Terms, he wrote the following sentence page :. The sentence caused considerable stir as such things go , for the verb "sounds" should really relate to the plural "phrases," not the singular "one.

The rare device for figuring out which verb to use in this construction is as follows: turn the sentence inside out:. Original Post. M mehrdadcontributor Member. Hello, Sebastian Sean, and welcome to the Grammar Exchange! Both sentences are correct.

Sentence 2 emphasizes the completion of your arrival and this is probably unnecessary most of the time. I think most people would just go with 1. A similar interpretation could be: 1 Give me a call once you reach home.

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