Tuesday, April 06, 2004

Someone asked about the use of none in phrases with of as is none of the days, none of the people. Is the subject none singular or plural? The answer seems to be both.

I found examples of the writers writing a sentence like None of the boats is in the water. But I also found another writer using a sentence like None of the papers have my signature.

In Keys for Writers by Ann Raimes (2nd edition, published by Houghton Mifflin), she says that both forms are historically acceptable with count nouns.

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