{"id":75,"date":"2014-09-15T21:15:38","date_gmt":"2014-09-15T11:15:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/?p=75"},"modified":"2016-11-20T21:17:08","modified_gmt":"2016-11-20T10:17:08","slug":"none","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/journal\/notes\/none\/","title":{"rendered":"None"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is none<\/em> a singular or plural word?<\/p>\n

none (pronoun)\u2014not any, not one singular thing; not one person, no one<\/p>\n

\n ‘I can trust none of you.’<\/em><\/p>\n

By the time the decanter reached my end of the table, none of the wine was<\/strong> left.<\/em><\/p>\n

None could match the warrior for strength or speed on the battlefield.<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While many believe that none<\/em> can only be followed by a singular verb (such as was<\/em> or is<\/em>), there is actually no historical proof for this theory. As far as texts go, the word none<\/em> has been used as both singular and plural ever since it evolved from its Old English roots.<\/p>\n

\n None of my closest friends are<\/strong> left-handed.<\/em><\/p>\n

None of my closest friends is<\/strong> left-handed.<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

AND<\/p>\n

\n Of all the cats in the pet shop, none are<\/strong> ginger.<\/em><\/p>\n

Of all the cats in the pet shop, none is<\/strong> ginger.<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The plural sentences of both above examples may just feel<\/em> right to you. However, the singular sentences are equally correct. If you replace none<\/em> with not one<\/em> (its primary definition), the is<\/em> no longer seems so clunky. Grammatically, there is no right or wrong here.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, and contrary to popular belief, none<\/em> is actually treated as plural quite often, hence why the above plural sentences may feel<\/em> right.<\/p>\n

Other examples of blurry preferences:<\/p>\n

\n Of all the employees in the office, none are<\/strong> blonde.<\/em><\/p>\n

Of all the employees in the office, none is<\/strong> blonde.<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

AND<\/p>\n

\n ‘I have three types of tea but none are<\/strong> peppermint, sorry.’<\/em><\/p>\n

‘I have three types of tea but none is<\/strong> peppermint, sorry.’<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

AND<\/p>\n

\n ‘None of the books you have there are<\/strong> going to help you.’<\/em><\/p>\n

‘None of the books you have there is<\/strong> going to help you.<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But which is right? Decide for yourself.<\/p>\n

However, there are instances when there is<\/em> a definite answer. (Yay!) When none<\/em> is followed by a mass noun, to be grammatically correct, you must use a singular verb. Mass nouns\u2014sometimes referred to as uncountable nouns\u2014are words such as furniture, air, music, fruit<\/em> and the more abstract honour<\/em> or evidence<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n None of the furniture was<\/strong> delivered on time.<\/em><\/p>\n

By the time I arrived, none of the fruit was<\/strong> left.<\/em><\/p>\n

None of the evidence is<\/strong> going to stick.<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Apart from mass nouns, though, there are no rules saying that you must<\/em> use a singular verb when using none<\/em>. Determining whether you think you should use singular or plural in any given situation mostly depends upon what sounds more natural.<\/p>\n

While my usual advice is to keep your style uniform, in this case, I can’t really advise that. Due to context and matters of emphasis, some instances may require a singular verb with none<\/em> rather than a plural or vice versa.<\/p>\n

Happy writing!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is none singular or plural?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76,"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75\/revisions\/76"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/carmelsealey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}