Mark Skype Teacher Posted September 4, 2013 Report Share Posted September 4, 2013 I am an English teacher online and from time to time come across new grammar points I am not fully sure about. Is 'None of us' plural or singular? Should we say 'none of us needs a car' or 'none of us need a car'? I suspect it is singular. Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pcgamer Posted September 4, 2013 Report Share Posted September 4, 2013 I looked up for an answer and found out that it's singular. So, the former sentence is true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LauraM Posted September 4, 2013 Report Share Posted September 4, 2013 On 9/4/2013 at 1:37 AM, Mark Skype Teacher said: Is 'None of us' plural or singular? Should we say 'none of us needs a car' or 'none of us need a car'? I suspect it is singular. Actually "none of us" is plural. The confusion arises because the word "none" can mean either "not one" -- which is singular -- or "not any" which is plural. In the example you gave it should be "None of us need a car." That's because the "none" refers to "not any," as in "not any of us" which is a plural entity. Just as you would say "None of the pedestrians need a car," those same pedestrians speaking for themselves would say "None of us need a car." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Skype Teacher Posted September 4, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2013 That makes total sense LauraM. Do you have a source? Many thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LauraM Posted September 4, 2013 Report Share Posted September 4, 2013 On 9/4/2013 at 5:27 PM, Mark Skype Teacher said: That makes total sense LauraM. Do you have a source? Many thanksYes, this topic has had a lot of discussion on the Internet. Here are just a few sources. There are lots of others. I found these interesting as they also provide some background info. http://dictionary.reference.com/help/faq/language/g11.htmlhttp://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_none_singular_or_pluralhttp://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/questions-and-quandaries/grammar/is-none-singular-or-plural Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Skype Teacher Posted September 5, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2013 Thank you LauraM for the sources... that's most useful and have a great day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aheyz Posted October 22, 2013 Report Share Posted October 22, 2013 I believe it is singular, because you are talking about the one group of "us". You are saying that there are not any people in the group but you are still referring to the single group, therefor making it singular. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LauraM Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 On 10/22/2013 at 8:28 PM, Aheyz said: I believe it is singular, because you are talking about the one group of "us". You are saying that there are not any people in the group but you are still referring to the single group, therefor making it singular.Actually, "none of us" is plural as typically it's the equivalent of saying "we" which is plural. But on the other hand "none" by itself can be plural or singular depending on the context.This particular reference sheds some light on the use of "none" as plural or singular. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_none_singular_or_plural Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superfalcons05 Posted October 24, 2013 Report Share Posted October 24, 2013 My language teacher told me that it was plural because "us" is plural and "none of" describes "us" It is one of the most confusing things for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mansa Posted October 31, 2013 Report Share Posted October 31, 2013 I was looking at this discussion and feeling like the phrase none of us needs a car just does not sit well for me and so if you would have asked me, I would have gone with my gut feeling which would have been the latter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WizardOfStaz Posted November 1, 2013 Report Share Posted November 1, 2013 I have never heard of "none" meaning "not any." It's a contraction of "not one," which would make it always singular. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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