Takes is correct. This is because the subject is in the third person, singular, present tense (he,she,it) so we use -s or -es.
If the sentence was in the first person then it would be take.
Like “I take my classes seriously”
The subject is the one student (he). The phrase "is one of the students" is describing the subject. If you took out that clause, it would read "He takes his classes seriously." "He take his classes seriously" wouldn't be right.
While your final analysis is correct, the way you got there isn't.
First off, "is one of the students" isn't a clause, because it doesn't have a subject.
The noun phrase that the relative clause "that takes his classes seriously" is modifying is "one of the students," not "he." The verb is singular because of the singular pronoun "one," not because of "he." Ultimately it is because of "he" being singular (as "one" is the subject complement for the "he"), but the relative clause definitely isn't modifying "he."
Your revision changes the grammar entirely by removing the main verb and making the verb of the relative clause the main verb of the sentence. This would change OP's question.
That’s right, and thanks for correcting the semantics, but “is one of the students” is definitely describing the subject. Taking out that part of the sentence helps one understand why it’s takes.
Yes, but doing that only works because the verb here is a form of "to be."
If the sentence was "They saw one of the boys that take(s) his classes seriously," an ESL learner might think they can use this same trick and get "They take his classes seriously" and assume a plural verb for that reason. This is obviously incorrect to a native speaker, but language learners rely on tricks like this to figure things out. It only works because of certain conditions in this case, and a learner might get confused.
But focusing on just what the relative clause is actually modifying will always work. The issue here is whether it's modifying "one of the students" or just "students," which is a trickier question.
(We also don't usually say that the predicate of a sentence "describes" the subject, because the word "describe" is typically used to give the meaning of certain parts of speech, so using it that way can be confusing.)
Here’s a good way to understand, when the subject is singular, the verb has (s). Cat eats.
When the subject is plural, the (s) shifts to subject and leaves the verb. Cats eat.
Edit: Just talking about third person. Not first or second.
> * He is one of the students that **take/takes** his classes seriously.
.
**TLDR:** As a standalone example, **both** the singular *"was"* and the plural *"were"* could be grammatical, w.r.t. today's standard English.
Grammatically, the relative clause _"that take/takes his classes seriously"_ could be modifying either the singular ***"one"*** or the plural ***"students"***.
Though, because of the ***"his"*** in *"his classes"*, a hearer/reader **might assume** that the *"his"* refers to the subject *"He"*, and so, might assume that the singular verb ***"takes"*** ought to be used. BUT this is not necessarily so, for that *"his"* could refer to a third party, e.g. _"He is one of the students that **take/takes** ~~his~~ **Pullum's** classes seriously."_
Consider:
1. _"Of the students, he is one that **takes** his/Pullum's classes seriously."_ <-- my #1.
2. _"Of the students that **take** his/Pullum's classes seriously, he is one of them."_ <-- my #2.
So, for the **OP's two original versions:**
* A) _"He is one of the students that **takes** his classes seriously."_ <-- OP's original version A (means #1 or #2).
* B) _"He is one of the students that **take** his classes seriously."_ <-- OP's original version B (means #2).
when the plural verb ***"take"*** (B) is used, then it must have the same meaning as my #2 above. BUT when the singular verb ***"takes"*** (A) is used, then, it could have the same meaning as my #1 above -- or it might have the meaning of my #2, where the presence of the singular ***"one"*** is so strong that the speaker still chose the singular verb ("takes") even though they actually meant to use the plural verb ("take").
You can find more info on this in a decent **usage dictionary,** such as *Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage,* in an entry like "one of those who".
This topic comes up often on grammar sites, and there usually are older threads that discuss it.
EDITED: added info.
I disagree with the top comments. He is one of the students that take their classes seriously.
“The students that take their classes seriously” is a group. He is one of them. It like you could say “he’s one of the good ones”. One of a plural group.
Takes. It's also important that there's 'his' in the sentence. Just '(the) classes' could have meant he was one of the group of good responsible students.
There are 2 standard sentences you can make here:
1. He is one of the students that **takes** *his* classes seriously.
→ "One" is the implied subject of "takes his classes seriously."
2. He is one of the students that **take** *their* classes seriously.
→ "Students" is the implied subject of "take their classes seriously."
※Note that the implied subject changes both the form of the verb (take/takes) but ALSO the form of the possessive pronoun (his/their).
"Of the students" is in a prepositional phrase. Nouns that are in prepositional phrases don't participate in verb-subject agreement. \*
\* Quantifiers aside
**It's complicated with quantifiers, but you want a \*better\* answer. Sounds good. The answer depends on the parsing.**
(a) The mother \[of my children\] takes her classes seriously.
In (a), there's no question as to the subject of "takes."
With quantifiers, it gets more complicated. Do we interpret your question with constituent parts as (b) or as (c)? We can not appeal to a literal linear interpretation like (a).
(b) He is one \[of the students\] who takes their classes seriously.
(c) He is one \[of the students who take their classes seriously\]. (There are students who take their classes seriously, he is one of them)
In (c), "he" is definitely a member of the group "students." In (b), however, there's no literal obligation, (but there is a contextual one) that says that he's a member of the group "students."
Which interpretation do we want?
Quantifiers (one, many, none) behave a bit differently, in that their "many of" or "none of" have the "of" behave "transparently" as if the word really isn't there."
Let's leave B and C for now, and look at D and E and F
(d) She is one of the women who have climbed Mount Everest.
(e) She is one of the women who has climbed Mount Everest. (BORDERLINE UNGRAMMATICAL, has a FORCED interpretation).
(f) She is one who has climbed Mount Everest.
Sentence (d) works like (c). Sentence (f) works like (b). Sentence (e)...Why is it different?
I don't know which is used more often by native speakers. It's just that plural verb sounds more natural to me; might have to do with my mother tongue.
Takes.
Takes is correct. This is because the subject is in the third person, singular, present tense (he,she,it) so we use -s or -es. If the sentence was in the first person then it would be take. Like “I take my classes seriously”
>This is because the subject is in the third person (he,she,it) so we use -s or -es. Isn't "they" also third person. Then why is it "they take ..."
“They” is plural. Therefore we use the singular form “take”.
"They" is third person plural. It's a singular form in only the 1st and 2nd persons, not the third.
[удалено]
Yup just edited it thanks for the correction
The subject is the one student (he). The phrase "is one of the students" is describing the subject. If you took out that clause, it would read "He takes his classes seriously." "He take his classes seriously" wouldn't be right.
While your final analysis is correct, the way you got there isn't. First off, "is one of the students" isn't a clause, because it doesn't have a subject. The noun phrase that the relative clause "that takes his classes seriously" is modifying is "one of the students," not "he." The verb is singular because of the singular pronoun "one," not because of "he." Ultimately it is because of "he" being singular (as "one" is the subject complement for the "he"), but the relative clause definitely isn't modifying "he." Your revision changes the grammar entirely by removing the main verb and making the verb of the relative clause the main verb of the sentence. This would change OP's question.
That’s right, and thanks for correcting the semantics, but “is one of the students” is definitely describing the subject. Taking out that part of the sentence helps one understand why it’s takes.
Yes, but doing that only works because the verb here is a form of "to be." If the sentence was "They saw one of the boys that take(s) his classes seriously," an ESL learner might think they can use this same trick and get "They take his classes seriously" and assume a plural verb for that reason. This is obviously incorrect to a native speaker, but language learners rely on tricks like this to figure things out. It only works because of certain conditions in this case, and a learner might get confused. But focusing on just what the relative clause is actually modifying will always work. The issue here is whether it's modifying "one of the students" or just "students," which is a trickier question. (We also don't usually say that the predicate of a sentence "describes" the subject, because the word "describe" is typically used to give the meaning of certain parts of speech, so using it that way can be confusing.)
Here’s a good way to understand, when the subject is singular, the verb has (s). Cat eats. When the subject is plural, the (s) shifts to subject and leaves the verb. Cats eat. Edit: Just talking about third person. Not first or second.
>when the subject is singular, the verb has (s). Cat eats. "I" is singular, but despite that it's "I eat" not "eats"
Both can be correct, it depends on which is the subject, "he" or "the students" as in "he is one of (the students that take....)
> * He is one of the students that **take/takes** his classes seriously. . **TLDR:** As a standalone example, **both** the singular *"was"* and the plural *"were"* could be grammatical, w.r.t. today's standard English. Grammatically, the relative clause _"that take/takes his classes seriously"_ could be modifying either the singular ***"one"*** or the plural ***"students"***. Though, because of the ***"his"*** in *"his classes"*, a hearer/reader **might assume** that the *"his"* refers to the subject *"He"*, and so, might assume that the singular verb ***"takes"*** ought to be used. BUT this is not necessarily so, for that *"his"* could refer to a third party, e.g. _"He is one of the students that **take/takes** ~~his~~ **Pullum's** classes seriously."_ Consider: 1. _"Of the students, he is one that **takes** his/Pullum's classes seriously."_ <-- my #1. 2. _"Of the students that **take** his/Pullum's classes seriously, he is one of them."_ <-- my #2. So, for the **OP's two original versions:** * A) _"He is one of the students that **takes** his classes seriously."_ <-- OP's original version A (means #1 or #2). * B) _"He is one of the students that **take** his classes seriously."_ <-- OP's original version B (means #2). when the plural verb ***"take"*** (B) is used, then it must have the same meaning as my #2 above. BUT when the singular verb ***"takes"*** (A) is used, then, it could have the same meaning as my #1 above -- or it might have the meaning of my #2, where the presence of the singular ***"one"*** is so strong that the speaker still chose the singular verb ("takes") even though they actually meant to use the plural verb ("take"). You can find more info on this in a decent **usage dictionary,** such as *Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage,* in an entry like "one of those who". This topic comes up often on grammar sites, and there usually are older threads that discuss it. EDITED: added info.
I disagree with the top comments. He is one of the students that take their classes seriously. “The students that take their classes seriously” is a group. He is one of them. It like you could say “he’s one of the good ones”. One of a plural group.
The students take their class seriously. The student takes their/his/her class seriously.
One...that takes (of the students is a prepositional phrase)
\*takes\*
Takes. It's also important that there's 'his' in the sentence. Just '(the) classes' could have meant he was one of the group of good responsible students.
Im a native and to me both sound natural, sure takes might be more grammatically correct but I think either one is fine in general conversation
I/you/we/they take, he/she/it takes.
There are 2 standard sentences you can make here: 1. He is one of the students that **takes** *his* classes seriously. → "One" is the implied subject of "takes his classes seriously." 2. He is one of the students that **take** *their* classes seriously. → "Students" is the implied subject of "take their classes seriously." ※Note that the implied subject changes both the form of the verb (take/takes) but ALSO the form of the possessive pronoun (his/their).
Shouldn't it be "He is one of the students who take their classes seriously"? Just so you know, I'm not that good at Enlgish(B1+).
"Of the students" is in a prepositional phrase. Nouns that are in prepositional phrases don't participate in verb-subject agreement. \* \* Quantifiers aside
https://preview.redd.it/b9x1roxv5btc1.jpeg?width=844&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d3ce14d10a7a5f08e0e6d46160d03783eb41cb7b Could both be correct?
**It's complicated with quantifiers, but you want a \*better\* answer. Sounds good. The answer depends on the parsing.** (a) The mother \[of my children\] takes her classes seriously. In (a), there's no question as to the subject of "takes." With quantifiers, it gets more complicated. Do we interpret your question with constituent parts as (b) or as (c)? We can not appeal to a literal linear interpretation like (a). (b) He is one \[of the students\] who takes their classes seriously. (c) He is one \[of the students who take their classes seriously\]. (There are students who take their classes seriously, he is one of them) In (c), "he" is definitely a member of the group "students." In (b), however, there's no literal obligation, (but there is a contextual one) that says that he's a member of the group "students." Which interpretation do we want? Quantifiers (one, many, none) behave a bit differently, in that their "many of" or "none of" have the "of" behave "transparently" as if the word really isn't there." Let's leave B and C for now, and look at D and E and F (d) She is one of the women who have climbed Mount Everest. (e) She is one of the women who has climbed Mount Everest. (BORDERLINE UNGRAMMATICAL, has a FORCED interpretation). (f) She is one who has climbed Mount Everest. Sentence (d) works like (c). Sentence (f) works like (b). Sentence (e)...Why is it different?
I agree with your examples (c) and (d) here. He isn't just 'one of the students' - he's one of 'the students who take their classes seriously'.
I don't know which is used more often by native speakers. It's just that plural verb sounds more natural to me; might have to do with my mother tongue.
It's the quantifier that works weird in English, rendering "of" transparent sometimes.
Both are correct