Abstract
Do you have one mobile phone? Yes, I have it.
Do you have one mobile phone? Yes, I have it.
Do you have a mobile phone? Yes, I have one.
Do you think that this year will be more active than the last one?
Do you think that this year will be more active than last year?
That isn’t David’s umbrella, the one of David is striped.
That isn’t David’s umbrella, David’s is striped.
We didn’t go to Sigmund’s house, we went to the one of Petra.
We didn’t go to Sigmund’s house, we went to Petra’s.
Bill and Mary went to the movies. This one had already seen it.
Bill and Mary went to the movies. Bill had already seen it.
I have bought a new car - it is self-driving.
They have two cars. She has one and her husband has one.
I went to the shop to buy the new iPhone and I bought the last one.
Do you have a self-driving car? Yes, I have one.
Do you have it with you now? Yes, I do.
Have you found your mobile? Yes I have found it.
Their two children - Jay and Kay - came with them. Jay is only five months’ old.
This one is bigger than that one.
Guidelines
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a / an refer to a generic item, one is a number and means a single item rather than two or three.
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do not use the one of to refer to an object belonging to a person (e.g. this is Adrian’s; not this is the one of Adrian).
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it refers to a particular item not to a generic item.
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English tends to repeat the noun rather than using one to replace the second mention of the noun. However there are exceptions to this general rule.
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one can be used in comparisons when the object in question has already been established.
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this / that one are not used to refer back to people, instead repeat the name of the person.
Choose the correct form
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1.
Do you have a self driving car? Yes I have it / one.
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2.
There were a / one hundred people not two hundred.
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3.
We only did a / one test before the machine broke down.
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4.
I don’t have my car with me but we can use the one of Anna / Anna’s.
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5.
All these lamps need just a / one bulb. For this lamp we need an / one 80 watt bulb and for this lamp a / one 60 watt bulb.
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6.
I like both these pictures. This one / picture looks like a Matisse and that one / picture looks like a Picasso.
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7.
We are going to Paris this year and Rome the next one / next year.
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8.
I went to a / one university in England.
1) one 2) one 3) one 4) Anna’s 5) one, an, a 6) one / picture, one / picture 7) next year 8) a
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Wallwork, A. (2018). Articles: A / An vs One vs It vs Genitive. In: Top 50 Grammar Mistakes. Easy English!. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70984-0_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70984-0_5
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