| ONE OF THE ONLY |
 |
ONE OF THE FEW |
"Only" has its root in "one," as should be obvious from looking at it. But we lose sight of this because of phrases like "only a few" and "only some," which lead in turn to the mistaken "one of the only." "The only" always refers to one item only; so the correct expression is "one of the few." Compare with the similarly mistaken "very unique."