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Don C.B1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor
plural or singular "none"

Some of your examples in this lesson sounded like nails on a chalkboard, so I did some research and would like to point out some needed corrections. (Note: I don't know if the British speak as in your examples, but Americans don't.)

Here is a link discussing whether "none" takes a singular or plural verb which corroborates my viewpoint. I used some of their examples. - https://www.thesaurus.com/e/grammar/none/

The rule is that if the word "none" is referencing a singular thing, then it takes a singular verb. If instead it is referencing plural things, then it takes a plural verb. So the following examples should be corrected.

The girls are going out tonight, but none (of them) ARE taking the train. ("girls" is plural)

None of your dresses FIT me. ("dresses" is plural)

None of his books ARE interesting. ("books" is plural)

Out of all the lies you told, none ARE believable.  ("lies" is plural)

None of them ARE interesting. ("them" is plural)

The following is an example of singular "none".

None of the pizza IS left. ("pizza" is singular)

However, none of the pizzas ARE left. ("pizzas" is plural)

Hope that helps.

Note: One of the examples at the link that I provided above is inaccurate. "None of the members ARE going." ("members" is plural, but they treat it as singular which is wrong)

One more: "Out of all of us, none ARE going to the meeting. ("us" is plural) For the same reason, the following is plural: "None of us ARE going to the meeting." ("us" is plural) (If you change "us" to "we", it may be easier to hear, although I hear it loud and clear with "us": like nails on a chalkboard!)

Asked 3 years ago

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