No one know the answer. I couldn’t agree more-4.8%. had a sense that was indistinguishable from the indefinite article (“a” or “an”) in modern English. One never know, do one?” Joel Neely on April 29, 2011 8:16 am “How people feel about themselves is important.” solves two problems with the original wording: (1) it allows inclusive language without breaking subject/verb agreement, and (2) it eliminates the annoyingly redundant “double-is” construction that seems increasingly common (e.g. I think it's about the things you think but never say. In this usage, “one” is a third-person substitute for a first-person pronoun—that is, “one” stands in for the speaker. put off. There is nobody answering the question. Is it acceptable? NEW. The objection to the use of this “impersonal you” is that it is ambiguous. Become A Better Singer In Only 30 Days, With Easy Video Lessons! Can you smoke in this office? One could hurt oneself climbing on those rocks. Oxford gives several examples, including this one from the Indian English Supplement to the Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English (5th ed., 1996): “I met one lady the other day.” In the immortal words of Fats Waller, “One never knows, do one?” [Note, Dec. 28, 2014. Might that be correct? Top synonyms for one never knows (other words for one never knows) are you never can tell, you never really know and you can never tell. crrllpm. . “Themself” is not accepted by any authority, including those that advocate singular use of “they”. It seems that using the plural is slowly being accepted by the readership in general, but strict editors will ding a writer for the S/V agreement error, and deservedly so. You say ' You never know ' or ' One never knows ' to indicate that it is not definite or certain what will happen in the future, and to suggest that there is some hope that things will turn out well . I’d rather go with “themselves” than “himself or herself.”, Kathryn, See more. With his grammatically outlandish "One Never Knows, Do One?" No one knows the answer. and other malapropisms, the one and only Fats Waller was doing Yogi Berraisms long before Yogi Berra was doing them. In early Old English, it could be a noun or an adjective (expressing the simple numeral) as well as an indefinite article (an early version of “a” or “an”). No one to talk with All by myself No one to walk with But I'm happy on the shelf Ain't misbehavin' I'm savin' my love for you I know for certain The one I love I'm through with flirtin' It's just you I'm thinkin' of Ain't misbehavin' I'm savin' my love for you Like Jack Horner In the corner Don't go nowhere What do I care? I’m surprised the Daily Tip didn’t discuss this possibility for non-exclusive usage: “It’s how a person feels about himself or herself that is important.”. .”One never know, do one?”, “How people feel about themselves is important.” solves two problems with the original wording: (1) it allows inclusive language without breaking subject/verb agreement, and (2) it eliminates the annoyingly redundant “double-is” construction that seems increasingly common (e.g. [vagueness] You never know, I might get lucky. Are they both acceptable English? Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Submitted by WerterBuch on November 16, 2013. The earliest example cited in Oxford is a line spoken by an affected young lady in The Provok’d Husband (1728), a play by Colley Cibber and John Vanbrugh: “One has really been stufft up in a Coach so long, that—Pray Madam—could not I get a little Powder for my Hair?”, This more recent citation is from Frank Johnson’s Out of Order (1982), a collection of political sketches: “How to persuade the Telegraph that … one was a man of immense culture? 10 years ago. I am a woman! "No one" is singular, just like "one" and "someone", so the plural verb "know" is incompatible. There might be an even bigger one–I doubt it, but you never know. you never know phrase. It's mostly self explanatory i think. The possessive form of the pronoun is “one’s,” and the reflexive is “oneself.” Those forms, however, as well as “one” used as an object rather than a subject, are more characteristic of British than American speech.