None of them was or none of them were

Guest · #1 (permalink) Thu Mar 30, 2006 16:45 pm *None of them was or none of them were*

Hi,

I am getting very confused, never really paid attention to this. Which one is right: "None of them was" or " None of them were"?

Thank you

Nel

Simon · #2 (permalink) Thu Mar 30, 2006 17:29 pm *None of them was or none of them were*

I have just typed the both expressions in google and I have 375,000 results for "none of them was" and 1,280,000 results for "none of them were". My test might be only a suggestion but I'm wondering if the expressions depend on the context.
I look forward to reading a respond of a teacher.

Alan · #3 (permalink) Thu Mar 30, 2006 17:52 pm *None*

Hi Simon,

Technically none would be followed by a singular verb form because it means not one/ no one. Very often you will hear/see None of them were hurt in the accident because of the closeness of the pronoun them to the verb.

Alan
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