{"id":282,"date":"2009-06-14T14:15:53","date_gmt":"2009-06-14T20:15:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=282"},"modified":"2025-12-03T11:49:22","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T17:49:22","slug":"none-were-vs-none-was","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/singular-vs-plural\/none-were-vs-none-was\/","title":{"rendered":"None Were<\/em> vs. None Was<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rule: <\/strong>With words that indicate portions\u2014some, all, none, percent, fraction, part, majority, remainder<\/em>, and so forth \u2014look at the noun in your of<\/em> phrase (object of the preposition<\/a>) to determine whether to use a singular or plural verb. If the object of the preposition is singular, use a singular verb. If the object of the preposition is plural, you may have enough context to use a plural verb.<\/p>\n

Examples:<\/strong>
\nNone of the pie was<\/strong> eaten.<\/em>
\n None of the children were<\/strong> hungry. <\/em>BUT<\/strong> None\u00a0<\/em>(i.e., “not one”) of the children was<\/strong> hungry<\/em> can be acceptable as well.<\/p>\n

In a sentence such as “none were missing,” there is an implicit noun that answers the question “none of what?” If that noun is singular, none<\/em> takes a singular verb. If that noun is plural, it is up to the writer and the context of the sentence to influence whether none<\/em> will take a singular or a plural verb.<\/p>\n

Examples:<\/strong>
\nNone was missing.<\/em> (None of the pie was missing.)
\nNone were missing.<\/em> (None of the pies were missing. There also may be times when a writer prefers was<\/em>, as in Not a single one of the pies was missing<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

In sum, you will typically be accurate and grammatical if you use a singular verb with none<\/em> in any case. Simply remember that if you have a plural context, such as with a plural object of a prepositional phrase that modifies none<\/em>, you may gain extra latitude to use a plural verb.<\/p>\n

Note:<\/strong> Apparently, the SAT testing service considers none<\/span> as a singular word only. However, according to Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage<\/span>, “Clearly none<\/span> has been both singular and plural since Old English and still is. The notion that it is singular only is a myth of unknown origin that appears to have arisen in the 19th century. If in context it seems like a singular to you, use a singular verb; if it seems like a plural, use a plural verb. Both are acceptable beyond serious criticism” (p. 664).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. None of the garbage was\/were picked up.<\/li>\n
  2. None of the chairs was\/were comfortable.<\/li>\n
  3. She inspected all of the plates and none was\/were chipped.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Pop Quiz Answers<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. None of the garbage was picked up.<\/li>\n
    2. None of the chairs were<\/strong> or was<\/strong> comfortable.<\/li>\n
    3. She inspected all of the plates and none were<\/strong> or was<\/strong> chipped.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Rule: With words that indicate portions\u2014some, all, none, percent, fraction, part, majority, remainder, and so forth \u2014look at the noun in your of phrase (object of the preposition) to determine whether to use a singular or plural verb. If the object of the preposition is singular, use a singular verb. If the object of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-singular-vs-plural","category-subject-and-verb-agreement"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7407,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282\/revisions\/7407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}