Tuesday, August 17, 2010
"None" Goes with the Flow
When my sister asked me what the correct form of the verb is in the phrase, none of the scientists (experiment, experiments), I immediately answered, "Take the singular form of the verb because 'none' means nothing." She did not agree with my answer and so we asked a very good English teacher about it. My sister was right because according to the teacher's sources, the antecedent of the word 'none' should determine the form of the verb.
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3 comments:
Both are, in fact, correct.
Read the following:
http://www.grammarmudge.cityslide.com/articles/article/1026513/9903.htm
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=91606
...and from http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=233895 :
The true answer is both are correct in the right context.
I checked in Practical English Usage (Michael Swan) which is usually an excellent reference, but in this case I disagree with Mr Swan's answer - at best it is incomplete. There he says that none...is is more formal than none...are, giving the examples:
1. None of my friends is interested.
2. None of my friends are interested.
In my opinion neither is more or less formal, and the first example simply sounds weird to me. However, "None of my friends is the president of the USA" is perfectly ok.
As already indicated in this thread, it depends on whether the implied meaning is singular or plural. It becomes clearer with a little more investigation...
Consider:-
None of this is your fault. (this: the situation)
There are a lot of problems, but none of them are your fault. (them: problems)
There are a lot of problems, in fact it's a disaster, but none of it is your fault. (it: the disaster)
Q: How many apples are there? A: There are none. There are no apples.
Q: How much water is there? A: There is none. There is no water.
So, in general use none...are for countable and plural nouns, and none...is for uncountable nouns.
In addition, it becomes clear that you can use none...is when you want to indicate that the expected quantity is one:
e.g. None of these solutions is the right one.
-> None of these solutions is correct.
-> None of them is correct.
None of these women is my wife. (I am looking for my wife and have only one.) -> None of them is my wife.
None of these children is my son. (I am looking for my son and have only one.) ->None of them is my son.
None of these children are my sons. (I am looking for my sons and have two or more.) -> None of them are my sons.
Well, at least I have it clear in my own head now
Andy in Madrid"
wow
That's interesting.
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