I was watching the House Minority Leader’s press news conference a while ago and a grammatic issue attracted my attention. I can’t remember the context, but in the conference she used the phrase "One in five children lives…"

I began wondering if that was quite correct. I googled "one in five live" and "one in five lives" and got 238 and 106 results, respectively.

I can’t make up my mind about this: which one is correct, and why?

In your House Minority Leader’s example, one in five children lives…, the subject is the noun, ‘one’.  Being a singular noun, it also takes the singular form of the verb, ‘lives’.

One in five lives is also a legitimate phrase, with ‘lives’ being the plural noun formation of ‘life’.  Also remember that the Google results would simply represent what other authors (and that includes non-professionals) may have written on the Web, not necessarily what is correct.

-Tim

Correct as ever, Tim. But don’t forget notional agreement. One might argue that "one in five" could be thousands. In such a case, notional agreement would allow "live". More about notional agreement here.

- PW

I always forget those notions!  Thanks, PW.

-Tim

First I agree with Tim, then acquiesce to PW!

How fickle am I!

One in five children lives in absolute luxury!

One in five children (would make thousands that) live in luxury!

Both right!

Sitran