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My painstaking grammarphobia is making me pull my hair out trying to figure wrap my head around the usage of "one of the most" and "some of the most".

Take for example:

  • A cheetah is ONE of the fastest animals on the planet. (Singular Subject)

  • Cheetahs are SOME of the fastest animals on the planet. (Plural Subject)

Then this should technically be wrong or less accurate, right?

  • Cheetahs are ONE of the fastest animals on the planet. (Plural Subject) (I feel like in this case, "one of the most" shouldn't be used and keep the sentence "Cheetahs are the fastest animals on the planet.")

The reason I ask is because I have run into this by somebody, who is supposed to be a skilled writer but could be wrong:

  • Cigarettes are ONE of the leading causes of lung cancer.

  • Cigarettes are SOME of the leading causes of lung cancer.

Grammatically, my logic is telling me that SOME should be used, but then there is another voice in my head saying ONE sounds better even though it’s not technically just one cigarette.

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This is a question where descriptive and prescriptive grammarians are likely to disagree.

Sentences like

Cigarettes are one of the leading causes of cancer.

abound, even among the fully literate. So a descriptive grammarian will say the sentence above is grammatical. Of course, when interpreted literally, it makes no sense. What is meant that is grammatical, internally consistent with respect to number, and sensible is

Smoking cigarettes is one of the leading causes of cancer.

A prescriptive grammarian might say the second sentence is preferable. A stylist would say the second sentence is preferable because it is more accurate: unsmoked cigarettes are not one of the leading causes of cancer. But ellipsis is part of English grammar: "smoking" will be understood. Even the most dogmatic of prescriptive grammarians would not approve

Cigarettes is one of the leading causes of cancer

or

Cigarettes are some of the leading causes of cancer.

The first captures meaning correctly, but violates the grammatical rule demanding a plural verb after a plural subject. The second is grammatical but does not reflect intended meaning.

Grammar is the servant of meaning, and grammar trumps logic. The issue is that ellipsis creates an unnecessary conflict. Usage says "cigarettes are one of" is grammatical despite the mathematical inconsistency between plural subject and "one." The reason I dislike it is that it is excessively broad: what is meant is "smoking" or "smoking cigarettes" rather than the mere existence of cigarettes.

Ellipsis is also the problem in your cheetah example. What is meant is not cheetahs individually, but cheetahs as a species. What is meant is

The species of cheetahs is one of the fastest on earth.

Ellipsis permits

Cheetahs are one of the fastest species on earth.

Grammar is not always mathematically consistent.

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  • This is a great answer, though I suspect that some users of this site actually are dogmatic enough to endorse a sentence like "Cigarettes are some of the leading causes of cancer."
    – Nanigashi
    Commented Oct 20, 2020 at 17:03
  • Thank you such in-depth explanation. This is why I always find grammar to be the most turmoil thing when I’m writing, for instance, when I come across some questionable grammar that disrupts what I think I know or have been taught in school, my mind shuts off and can’t even proceed until this sort of itch is scratch per say.
    – Heath J
    Commented Oct 20, 2020 at 17:35
  • I seriously don’t remember grammar being this subjective and varied. Back in school, I found it a lot simpler where teachers gave the rules being black-and-white to stick by them...no matter what...to keep things simple. And probably a good thing too, because thinking about all these subjective possibilities of nuances just create headaches to keep track of and unable to learn the grammar rules, like basically saying “for ellipsis, 1 + 1 = Does not equal 2,” creates more confusion.
    – Heath J
    Commented Oct 20, 2020 at 17:42
  • It is not so much a matter of subjectivity. It is a matter of two different schools of thought regarding grammar. Descriptive grammarians rely on what people actually say. Prescriptive grammarians specify what people should do. It often leads to different answers. Personally, I usually find that apparent grammatical issues reflect failure to specify my intended meaning carefully, and addressing the meaning eliminates any grammatical issue Grammar serves meaning, not formal logic.
    – Jeff Morrow
    Commented Oct 20, 2020 at 18:14
  • What school of thought would you consider that school teaches (like AP English) falls under? Old habits die hard.
    – Heath J
    Commented Oct 20, 2020 at 18:27

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