Euclid's 'Bridge of asses' has come to be far less of a problem than the 'pons asinorum' now confronting our educators, bishops, playwrights, high-ranking politicians, BBC reporters and newsreaders.

It has to do with the matter of conjugating the verb within an auxiliary clause. Most people nowadays tend to come out with the likes of "One of the things that is." 'Things that is'? Where does the 'one' come in?

The easiest way to 'bridge' the grammatical chasm, might be simply to complete the sentence, for example: "One of the trains that are (not 'is') in the habit of arriving late is (yes!) expected to arrive on time today."

J TIPPLE

Devizes