None are or none is

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Grammarist

None is a pronoun most of the time. It means nothing, zero, no one, or not any part. Some believe it can only be singular in construction, but that is not true. Most seem to think that because none can mean ‘not one’ that it is always singular, but none can also mean ‘not any’. See the examples for uses in plural or singular.

Examples

Singular

But on Friday, which was the last day of filing nominations, among the 24 candidates who filed their nominations from the area none was from the saffron party. [Hindustan Times]

Perhaps none is more vulnerable than James, a soft-spoken 19-year-old who is quick to flash a smile that would melt ice. [Ottawa Citizen]

Not only aesthetically but in just about every other way, Larkin was a man set against his time: modernism in the arts, left-wing politics of the kind that appeals to academic intellectuals, admiration of youth—none of it was to his taste. [Wall Street Journal]

Plural

The court heard he also began using a camera pen in an attempt to gain images of the boys when partially clothed, but while the police found 170,425 images, none were classed as indecent. [The Telegraph]

If we see that there are 50-100 black [former] players who have their coaching badges and none are getting jobs then we can say, ‘There could be a problem’. [Irish Independent]

Based on the forecasts that we have gotten so far this year, none of them were very close to what the game conditions were. [ESPN]

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