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Welcome to Ask the Editor. I’m Emily Brewster, associate editor at Merriam-Webster. Please forgive that stepping into this important grammar issue bores you as you consider the following examples. – No more donuts. – No more coffee. – I was hoping there would be some left, but when I looked there was nothing left. .- Not there? Hmm. Sometimes it’s not clear which verb to use with none. Is it singular, or plural, or both? There is a rumor about nothing. It says that none is always singular, and even my first sentence, no donut is left, so it’s singular, no donut left. There is nothing, so the rumor says, that does not mean that there is not one, and is therefore singular, just as the phrase not one is singular, like in the sentence of endless sadness, there is not one left. which donut. This rumor is over 200 years old and it is based on the fact that the word none comes from an Old English word meaning not one. That part is the truth. But, unlike our modern English phrase, not one, that Old English word can be singular or plural. The fact is that no one has been used with plural verbs for over a thousand years. Not only that, but none, in modern English, does not mean unique not one. It also means nothing, like half a donut is better than nothing. And it means no part, or nothing, as in, I don’t want to hear this stupid thing about the lack of donuts. Usage experts acknowledge that none is sometimes singular and sometimes plural. Most of them recommend treating it as singular when it doesn’t mean one, or no number, and plural when it doesn’t mean any. None of that will bring you donuts or coffee. But that’s sound advice, anyway. More Ask the Editor videos are available at merriam-webster.com.
Categories: Usage Notes
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