Comments on: “None Were” vs. “None Was”

By: Jane

Jane — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:34:58 +0000

This is what Dictionary.com has to say about none:
Usage note: Since none has the meanings “not one” and “not any,” some insist that it always be treated as a singular and be followed by a singular verb: The rescue party searched for survivors, but none was found. However, none has been used with both singular and plural verbs since the 9th century. When the sense is “not any persons or things” (as in the example above), the plural is more common: … none were found. Only when none is clearly intended to mean “not one” or “not any” is it followed by a singular verb: Of all my articles, none has received more acclaim than my latest one.

By: Paul E

Paul E — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:30:05 +0000

NONE was derived from NOT ONE which makes it absolutely singular.
It is incorrect to say, “One of us were there.” It would be, “One of us was there.”
Logic dictates that the same rules apply when using NONE.
“None (not one) of us was there.’”
Think it through and it becomes quite clear.

Usage may tell you that “None of us were there.’ SOUNDS right, but that it because you are listening to the wrong people. English has ways of compounding incorrect usage when all we HEAR is incorrect usage, even among journalists and others who should know better. Let’s hear it for learning the correct way and using it regardless of what the unlearned say.

By: Jane

Jane — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:43:14 +0000

The subject of “$50,400 of the fees the Firm earned from you in that period is/are attributable to lobbying-related income” is $50,400. Sums of money are usually thought of as singular so the verb would be “is.”

By: Greta

Greta — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:20:02 +0000

Which is correct:

“$50,400 of the fees the Firm earned from you in that period are (or is) attributable to lobbying-related income.”

By: Jane

Jane — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 00:24:32 +0000

I wish so for your sake, too. However, I’m glad this works for you!

By: patricia

patricia — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:55:34 +0000

Thank you, I wish my English course text had been this easy to understand.

By: Jane

Jane — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:53:47 +0000

The folks who make SAT tests lean the same way as you do. I think of “none” like other “portion” subjects such as “majority,” “remainder,” and “fraction.” These nouns can be either singular or plural, depending on the implied or stated object of the preposition.
Examples: A fraction of the costs were recovered. A fraction of the cost was recovered. The remainder of the pie was eaten. The remainder of the pies were eaten.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 02:08:09 +0000

Hello, I lean toward the side of thinking of none as a singular and see “none was” as a simple matter of subject-verb agreement. Thinking of none as singular, I say that the prepositional phrase coming after none should have no more of an effect on the conjugation of the verb than a prepositional phrase that follows “one” or “neither.” We can agree that “neither” takes a singular in all cases, can’t we?

I see so many youth and adults who cannot identify the subjects of their own utterances. I find that the train derails from that point.

By: Cassie Tuttle

Cassie Tuttle — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:01:54 +0000

Thanks for the refresher course on “none is/none are.”

I think one reason some people insist that “none” is always singular is the notion that it implies the idea of “not one.”

I’m sorry to hear that the SAT testing service considers “none” to be only a singular word. More dumbing of the language.