A question came up in a class today about the indefinite-pronoun use  
of "one", as in "one wonders what would happen next". Several  
students have been taught that, once "one" is used, subsequent  
references must be a personal pronoun, e.g. "One should always double-
check his or her quotations." I'm not finding much on this in the  
grammar and usage guides on my shelf; in my experience, the rule is  
"once 'one', always 'one' ", hence "one should always double-check  
one's quotations". The reasoning is that "one" is already a pronoun  
(which isn't particularly consistent as an explanation, since the  
pronouns "someone" and "everyone", etc. take a personal pronoun).

I am wondering where the teachers who taught these students got this  
rule. I found one website which agrees with my experience of the  
matter. Anyone have experience of this? I enforce the "once 'one',  
always 'one' " rule, since I believe this is what is expected by  
people who care.

Dr. Johanna Rubba, Associate Professor, Linguistics
Linguistics Minor Advisor
English Department
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Tel.: 805.756.2184
Dept. Ofc. Tel.: 805.756.2596
Dept. Fax: 805.756.6374
URL: http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba

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