June 22, 2009
None so blind
Q: As an SAT writing instructor, I am intrigued by your Grammar Myths page, which debunks the rule that "none" is always singular. Since the College Board follows this rule, we have thousands of students learning to write sentences like “None of the chickens is hatched.” What do you think about that?
A: What do I think? I think it's unfortunate that the College Board may be penalizing students who are in fact using the language correctly by writing, "None of the chickens are hatched."
The belief that "none" is always singular is a misconception. From the earliest days of Old English, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, "none" has been used in both the singular and the plural.
The OED’s first definition (from early Old English) is "not any." Obviously, interpreting "none" as "not any" gives us both singular ("not any of it was") and plural ("not any of them were") constructions.
Although “none” can be either singular or plural, the OED points out, the plural use of the word has generally been more common, especially in modern times.
Let me also quote Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage: "Clearly, none 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 late in the 19th century.”
Here’s the advice I give in my grammar book Woe Is I: If "none" means "none of it," treat it is as singular ("None of the merlot is open"); if "none" means "none of them," treat it as plural ("None of the carafes are full"). And if you mean "not one," then say or write "not one."
I hope the College Board is not also perpetuating the myths that it's incorrect to "split" an infinitive or to place a preposition at the end of a sentence or to begin a sentence with a conjunction. These, too, are well-known grammatical misconceptions that are alien to the syntax of a Germanic language like English.
If any visitors to the blog would like to read more about these and other myths of English, check out my new book, Origins of the Specious, written with my husband, Stewart Kellerman.
Buy our books at a local store, Amazon.com, or Barnes&Noble.com.
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