English grammar

[Bluepaint]

Could be worse. You could be one of those people who goes through life...

or

Could be worse. You could be one of those people who go through life...

Which is right and why? I normally don't care much about grammar but the above is bugging me.

[rdearman]

I think it is the second one. Don't know why, just sounds better.

[Bluepaint]

Won't someone help the poor native speakers

[lavengro]

I've definitely heard both. Like rdearman, I also prefer the second. I think this may be a use of the subjunctive form of the verb.

[Deinonysus]

I think either works and "to go" is just attached to a different word depending on how you inflect it.

You could be one (of those people) who goes through life…

You could be one of those of those (people who go through life)…

[Bluepaint]

I think either works and "to go" is just attached to a different word depending on how you inflect it.

You could be one (of those people) who goes through life…

You could be one of those of those (people who go through life)…

That was my line of thinking hence the confusion

[dampingwire]

Could be worse. You could be one of those people who goes through life...

I'm going to go against the current prevailing view and plump for the above. I think it sounds better to me because if I substitute "someone" for "one of those people", that sentence works and the other one doesn't.

"people" (except, I suppose when used to describe a nation as a single entity ... "the people") is almost always plural, but in this case the second form somehow sounds wrong to me.

[eido]

I hear in my mind "go through life", but my heart (haha, I guess?) tells me "one" is the word that is supposed to be what the verb is connected to, hence "goes". But I think somebody already said that.

[Xmmm]

Could be worse. You could be one of those people who goes through life...

or

Could be worse. You could be one of those people who go through life...

Which is right and why? I normally don't care much about grammar but the above is bugging me.

You could be one of those people who goes through life...

It's the first one. "of those people" is like an adjective modifying 'one'. You are still one who goes through life, whether you are "one nasty customer", "one hard working son of a gun", or "one of those people". I'm pretty sure that's the "right" answer, and I'm pretty sure if you took a vote of native speakers, the "wrong" answer would win. I would personally say #1.

[Ani]

I think the first is right.. I associate the second with a particular regional dialect.

It's probably less correct but I'd say "one of those people that goes through life" because "who goes through" is just phonetically weird.