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And why/why not? The complete sentence is "You are my sole one in the world", it feels absurd and wrong but I can't really tell.

Thanks in advance!

Off-topic, huh. Well, let's go over it: The research: The question is far too specific to be featured in any grammar book I possess(I did check). I also googled it but, again, far too specific and it also returned a number of unrelated results. I asked some native speakers I know and some of them said it works, others said it sounds off but none could give a reason. The Learner's forum: I'd assume that if native speakers have a hard time agreeing on it, the question is somewhat above "learning" levels. If merely asking about English qualifies as "learner's", then this forum would be largely irrelevant.

no nono
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It helps to understand that the antiquated definition of the adjective "sole" is "without a companion" (see also, "solitary"). While we don't specifically use that meaning anymore, the words it is naturally combined with reflect that antiquated definition. Thus, you can say "sole proprietor" because a store's proprietor could have a business partner, but you do not say "sole one" because the pronoun "one" will never have the possibility of a partner.

Though I canont find a specific rule to support this claim, the adjective "only" is generally used to separate the target noun from a group or to identify an individual element of a group.

You are the only person I know who would do that.

You are the only one in the class with a red shirt.

While the word "sole," in support of the antiquated definition, is more often used to indicate there is no group.

You are the sole proprietor of this store.

You are the sole winner of the reward.

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JBH
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  • My initial thought on this question was It's just a matter of established idiomatic usage, but that seemed a bit weak considering *sole* works fine with nouns like *reason, survivor. I'm now totally convinced that your do not say "sole one" because the pronoun "one" will never have the possibility of a partner* is key here. – FumbleFingers Sep 12 '17 at 14:55
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You can't use it in the way you suggested, though there are other cases where "only" and "sole" can be used interchangeably:

You are the only person I care about.
You are the sole person I care about.

He was the only survivor.
He was the sole survivor.

I can't really explain why it doesn't work in your example, but it doesn't. It doesn't sound idiomatic. I'm not sure if it's actually wrong from a grammatical perspective.

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