And Then There Was “None”

Is the word “none” singular or plural? Writers frequently grapple with this question. The answer should be simple, but it’s not that easy.

“None” can mean not one or not any. Because of that, there are sources that argue that this pronoun should be dealt with as singular, and should have a singular verb, as in the title of this post. But then, Agatha Christie wrote a story called And Then There Were None, which uses a plural verb.

Can both of these phrases be right?

Yes! When “none” is used as not one, it takes a singular verb. For example: None of the steak was cooked right. Since steak is singular, the verb should also be singular (was). However, when “none” is used as not any, it may take a plural verb. For example: None of the peaches were ripe. In this case, “none” can refer to not one of the peaches or not any of the peaches, so it can be plural. Because peaches is plural, using a plural verb makes the sentence read more naturally.

This issue goes all the way back to the ninth century. The word “none” comes from the Old English word nan (pronounced nahn), which was a contraction of ne an, meaning “no one”. So, it should be singular, right? Unfortunately, back then, it was used both as a singular (no one or not one) and plural (not any persons or not any things), so we’re stuck with over a thousand years of precedent.

So, what to do? The answer is that you’re pretty much free to decide which meaning is clearest of most appropriate in your context. This falls into what’s called notional agreement or notational sense, which means that the construction is based on the context, the emphasis desired, or the sense rather than form. When “none” is followed by “of”, the following noun or noun phrase should give you a clue: if it’s singular, use a singular verb; if it’s plural, you have a choice (most often, but not always, you’ll use a plural verb). Even if the word “of” is missing (e.g., None was taken.), ask yourself None of what? If the noun is singular or plural, use the corresponding singular or plural verb.

Here are some guidelines:

Use “none” as singular when you’re referring to a single person or thing in a group, including a mass noun (meaning none of it). Example: None of the box was damaged. One place where the singular sense is required is when “none” is used to mean no amount or no part. Examples: None of the water is polluted. None of the waste was toxic.

Use “none” as a plural when you’re referring to more than one person or thing (meaning none of them). Examples: After checking the entire bunch of bananas, we found that none of them were rotten. None of the employees meet for lunch [it takes at least two people to meet].

Use “none” either way in the following examples: None of the machines is/are working. None of them is/are ripe.

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