One (pronoun)

Information about One (pronoun)

One is a pronoun in the English language. It is a gender neutral, third-person singular (though slightly anomalous) pronoun, commonly used in English prose. It is equivalent to the French pronoun on (upon which it may be modeled), or the German man.

Cases and usage

One may be used in the nominative, but (much unlike French on and German man) it can also be used in other cases. It occurs most commonly in sentences in the present simple tense or conditional constructions. Examples of its use:

Nominative

*One cannot help but grow older.
*If one were to fail, that would be unfortunate.

Accusative

Verbal object

*Drunkenness makes one unreliable.

Prepositional object

*A reputation travels with one.

Dative

*That dead-end job at least gives one a chance to develop as a person.

Genitive

The genitive form of one is one's, as in

*One's experiences shape one's expectations.


There is no strong form analogous to hers and yours: *One's is broken; *I sat on one's; *I broke ones.

Reflexive

A reflexive form oneself appears at times:

To quit smoking is like giving oneself a raise.


Oneself is anomalous in its inability to refer back to anything other than one:

* One exhausts oneself.
** Smith exhausted oneself.

Style and rhetoric

Some consider one to be overly formal, and avoid it. However, in doing so, they encounter problems only be resolved by awkward phrasings or a significant drop in formality. In particular, phrasing a sentence in a gender neutral way may require the passive voice, singular they, pluralizing, you, or circumlocution. In addition, the word one can also be used for inanimate objects, creating possible confusion in careless writing. For example,
  • If one chooses to disobey the rules, one must be dealt with.
The second one may co-refer with the first, or it may refer to a specific rule. (If this sentence were spoken at all, the second one would require distinctive intonation for the second interpretation.)

Etymology

One may have come into use as an imitation of French on. French on derives from Latin homo, nominative singular for man. It is distinct from the French word for the English numeral one un(e), which never appears as a pronoun.

See also

Modern English personal pronouns
I • you • he • she • it • one • we • you • they


English gender-neutral pronouns
He • She • It • One • Singular they • Spivak
neologisms: sie/hir, thon, ve, xe, ze, …
English}}} 
Writing system: Latin (English variant) 
Official status
Official language of: 53 countries
Regulated by: no official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1: en
ISO 639-2: eng
ISO 639-3: eng  
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Gender-neutral, gender-inclusive or epicene pronouns are pronouns that neither reveal nor imply the gender or the sex of a person. Androgynous pronouns are pronouns that can refer to neither or both genders.
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The nominative case is a grammatical case for a noun, which generally marks the subject of a verb, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments. (Basically, it is a noun that is doing something, usually joined (such as in Latin) with the accusative case.
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Present Tense
(1968) The Blue Marble
(1969)

Present Tense is the first Sagittarius album, released in 1968 by Columbia Records.
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The conditional mood is the form of the verb used in conditional sentences to refer to a hypothetical state of affairs, or an uncertain event that is contingent on another set of circumstances.
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In grammar, the voice of a verb describes the relationship between the action (or state) that the verb expresses and the participants identified by its arguments (subject, object, etc.). When the subject is the agent or actor of the verb, the verb is in the active voice.
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"Singular" they is a popular, non-technical expression for uses of the pronoun they (and its inflected forms) when plurality is not required by the context.
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Generic antecedents are representives of classes, indicated by a reference in ordinary language (most often a pronoun), where gender is typically unknown or irrelevant.
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"Singular" they is a popular, non-technical expression for uses of the pronoun they (and its inflected forms) when plurality is not required by the context.
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    Personal pronouns are pronouns often used as substitutes for proper or common nouns.

    English personal pronouns

    Main article: English personal pronouns


    Ordinary English has seven personal pronouns:

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      I (IPA: /aɪ/) is the first-person, singular personal pronoun (subject case) in Modern English. Personal pronouns in standard Modern English
      Singular Plural
      Subject Object Possessive Subject Object Possessive
      ..... Click the link for more information.
      YOU is a South African magazine which is the English version of the Afrikaans family magazine Huisgenoot.

      This article is about the Modern English personal pronoun. For other uses, see You (disambiguation).

      ..... Click the link for more information.
      He (IPA: /hiː/) is a third-person, singular personal pronoun (subject case) in Modern English. Personal pronouns in standard Modern English
      Singular Plural
      Subject Object Possessive Subject Object Possessive
      ..... Click the link for more information.
      SHE may refer to:
      • Standard hydrogen electrode, also called Normal hydrogen electrode.
      • SHE, Systeme Hydrologique Europeen, a hydrology transport model
      • S.H.E a Taiwanese girl group
      • SHE, a British alternative blues band
      • SHE

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      It (IPA: /ɪt/) is a third-person, singular neuter pronoun (subject case) in Modern English. Personal pronouns in standard Modern English
      Singular Plural
      Subject Object Possessive Subject Object Possessive
      ..... Click the link for more information.
      We (IPA: /wiː/) is the first-person, plural personal pronoun (subject case) in Modern English. Personal pronouns in standard Modern English
      Singular Plural
      Subject Object Possessive Subject Object Possessive
      ..... Click the link for more information.
      YOU is a South African magazine which is the English version of the Afrikaans family magazine Huisgenoot.

      This article is about the Modern English personal pronoun. For other uses, see You (disambiguation).

      ..... Click the link for more information.
      They (IPA: /ğeɪ/) is a third-person, personal pronoun (subject case) in Modern English. Personal pronouns in standard Modern English
      Singular Plural
      Subject Object Possessive Subject Object Possessive
      ..... Click the link for more information.
      Gender-neutral, gender-inclusive or epicene pronouns are pronouns that neither reveal nor imply the gender or the sex of a person. Androgynous pronouns are pronouns that can refer to neither or both genders.
      ..... Click the link for more information.
      He (IPA: /hiː/) is a third-person, singular personal pronoun (subject case) in Modern English. Personal pronouns in standard Modern English
      Singular Plural
      Subject Object Possessive Subject Object Possessive
      ..... Click the link for more information.
      SHE may refer to:
      • Standard hydrogen electrode, also called Normal hydrogen electrode.
      • SHE, Systeme Hydrologique Europeen, a hydrology transport model
      • S.H.E a Taiwanese girl group
      • SHE, a British alternative blues band
      • SHE

      ..... Click the link for more information.
      It (IPA: /ɪt/) is a third-person, singular neuter pronoun (subject case) in Modern English. Personal pronouns in standard Modern English
      Singular Plural
      Subject Object Possessive Subject Object Possessive
      ..... Click the link for more information.
      "Singular" they is a popular, non-technical expression for uses of the pronoun they (and its inflected forms) when plurality is not required by the context.
      ..... Click the link for more information.
      The Spivak pronouns are a proposed set of gender-neutral pronouns in English. They are not in widespread use, but have been employed in gender-neutral language by some people who dislike the more common alternatives "he/she" or singular they.
      ..... Click the link for more information.

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