Often in English, a couple of simple, uninteresting words are actually powerful phrases with numerous uses. The phrase one of is, well, one of them. Here's a look the many ways it is used.
Think of the basic uses most beginning English learners will know:
• one of my friends
• one of my favorite restaurants/movies
• one of the best/worst
• one of the people she met at school
• one of the students will help
• one of them/us
Use the phrase also for things that are counted.
• one of the many (who missed the class)
• one of the few (who are never late to work)
• one of the millions of people (who saw the movie)
In addition, one of comes at the front of a number of useful idioms, language more suited for intermediate and advanced-level students of English. Here are a few.
• one of these days
• one of those days
• one of those things
• one of a kind
• one of the boys
• one of those things = Something that cannot be avoided or explained.
→ We all have to pay taxes. It’s just one of those things.
→ Yes, math class is boring. But school sometimes is boring—it’s one of those things.
• one of those days = A day on which everything goes wrong. A bad day, a difficult day.
→ I overslept, the coffeemaker wouldn’t work, my car wouldn’t start … It was really one of those days.
→ Jack is the star player on our baseball team, but unfortunately he had one of those days.
• one of these days = Someday, possibly soon. This idiom shows the speaker thinking about something happening.
→ One of these days, I’m going to create a smartphone app that will make me rich!
→ Betty came to work late again? One of these days, she’s going to get into trouble.
Similarly we can say one of these times (meaning "some
time"), one of these cold mornings, etc.
• one of a kind, n. phr., adj. phr. Unique,
rare, unlike any others. Usually spelled with hyphens when used as an adjective.
→ This novel is really a one-of-a-kind book. I’ve never read
anything like it.
→ Mike will be hard to replace when he leaves
the company; he’s really one of a kind.
• one
of the boys,
v. Accepted
by a group of male friends.
→ Mike finally became one of the boys when he joined the
school’s baseball team.
→ Ned never felt like he was one of the boys.
See more at Number Idioms 1, Numerous Idioms to Learn.
See more at Number Idioms 1, Numerous Idioms to Learn.
Often learning similar idioms together, and the words that make them up, makes the language much easier to understand and remember. Check out these and numerous other idioms in Targets in English's new book Numerous Idioms, which will be released later in March.
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