Topic
Language Question: How do YOU say....?
I'm finishing up my master's in TESOL and applied linguistics, and my Romanian professor claims that British folks say "more than one reasons." As a native speaker of American English, that sounds funny to me since we say "more than one reason." So tell me: Which form do you use? Where are you from? Is English your native language?
Another thing: Do you say "one of many reasons" or "one of many reason"?
This form can be "more than one X," where X is just about any noun.
Replies
- I say "more than one reason" and "one of many reasons." I'm from the Southern United States. :)
- I say "more than one reason," and "one of many reasons." Native US English speaker.
- Uk born and bread and I've NEVER heard anyone say anything other than 'more than one reason', the plural doesn't make sense!
- Native born English, lived 32 years in the US, and concur with the above. "More than one reasons" is simple bad grammar, nothing more and nothing less.
- Native English speaker who's never left the USA (except for approximately ten minutes in Mexico). More than one reason; one of many reasons. I've never even heard it the other way, and I've heard some downright weird (to me) Britishisms in my time.
- More than one reason. British, from Cardiff, Wales. I completely agree with Alaric :)
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more than one reason
one of many reasons
because of: "one reason" and "many reasons", the single or plural applies directly to the number of reasons, or "one single reason out of many reasons"
neat, what an awesome career choice!! -
I can think of a context where "more than one reasons" is grammatically correct - not as an entire sentence itself but as an incomplete sentence that needs finishing.
"more than one reason." is something of a sentence fragment anyway. "I have more than one reason." is a complete thought.
"I reason that there are at least six ways to solve this problem." is also a complete thought.
"The group reasons that there are at least six ways to solve this problem." is another complete thought, thus :
"More than one (person) reasons that there are at least six ways to solve this problem." is also perfectly fine, with the word 'person' being optional in this sentence - if it is itself part of a larger context that makes it abundantly clear that 'more than one' means 'more than one WHAT', thus, as part of a sentence in the perfect context, "More than one reasons" does not have to violate grammar rules.
Here's a more complete example, with full proper context:
Seventeen doctors were interviewed about whether they use or are intending to use an online billing service. Four of these doctors are already using such a service and three have plans to switch to one once their current service contracts end. Of those who are opposed to such a service, some refuse on the grounds of believing electronic billing to be impersonal or unprofessional, however more than one reasons that this would be ineffective because many unsolicited emails end up in junk folders and are never seen. - +1 to Ladyimp!!
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Very well constructed reply Ladyimp. The reason being is that one modifies the noun reason. As in "There is more than one reason". If you take out the " more than one" part, the sentence "There is A reason" is grammatically correct and also "There ARE reasons" would be the plural. In the other example, the same rule applies. The following is "One of many reasons" vs. "The following is A reason". The word reason may also be used as a verb in the example Ladyimp used. It is not a matter of British or American English imo it is just a matter of singular vs. plural and also vocabulary usage.
Btw, I am American and have never left the country. - The whole difference here is whether you intend to use reason as a verb or a noun. "More than one reasons" is only correct if the word reasons is a verb in your sentence.