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Is the following sentence correct: "One in three pupils get poor education"?

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Online Jonathon

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« on: January 30, 2007, 10:50:38 AM »
I know the technical answer on this one, but I'm wondering what the general feeling on this one is. Does it sound okay to most people?
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Offline Porter

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« Reply #1 on: January 30, 2007, 11:03:54 AM »
It sounds completely wrong.
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Offline sarcasticmuppet

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« Reply #2 on: January 30, 2007, 11:08:36 AM »
Is it correct?  I'm taking off the beginning and going with "pupils get poor education", which sounds right.
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« Reply #3 on: January 30, 2007, 11:17:34 AM »
Note: This is a newspaper headline, so that explains the omitted "a" before "poor education."
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Offline JT

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« Reply #4 on: January 30, 2007, 11:22:41 AM »
It sounds fine, but it's wrong.
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Offline Porter

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« Reply #5 on: January 30, 2007, 11:26:07 AM »
I don't know whether it's right or wrong, I just know that it sounds wrong to me.
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Offline Tante Shvester

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« Reply #6 on: January 30, 2007, 12:44:08 PM »
Right or wrong, I can't say "get" in that sentence.  It's "gets".  I'm trusting my ear on this one.

After all, I am a native speaker of the language.
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Offline Porter

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« Reply #7 on: January 30, 2007, 12:49:39 PM »
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Offline Tante Shvester

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« Reply #8 on: January 30, 2007, 12:54:02 PM »
There is no comparison.
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« Reply #9 on: January 30, 2007, 12:55:51 PM »
There's a world of difference between being simply a native speaker and being a fluent speaker.
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Offline Porter

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« Reply #10 on: January 30, 2007, 12:55:53 PM »
Quote
There is no comparison.
And yet, I managed to compare you anyway.

It must be a superpower.
« Last Edit: January 30, 2007, 12:56:53 PM by Porteiro »
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Offline Farmgirl

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« Reply #11 on: January 30, 2007, 01:17:32 PM »
It's a weird sentence either way. But technically the 'get' verb is supposed to go with the word "one" (as if the "in three pupils" wasn't there)
« Last Edit: January 30, 2007, 01:17:52 PM by Farmgirl »
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Offline Porter

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« Reply #12 on: January 30, 2007, 01:21:39 PM »
What's the "correct" answer, Jonathon?
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« Reply #13 on: January 30, 2007, 01:41:08 PM »
The correct answer is that it should be "gets," but the more I thought about it, the weirder it seemed. After all, they're not really talking about one student. But then I got to the point where I couldn't tell what sounded normal anymore.

Luckily I didn't actually have to edit it, because the context was that they were making fun of the (supposed) poor education of the author of the headline.
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Offline pooka

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« Reply #14 on: January 30, 2007, 03:16:36 PM »
Didn't one of you guys said editors are more responsible for headlines?
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