pronouns - Is "none" singular or plural? How can I decide?





None as plural indefinite pronoun



With words that indicate portions—some, all, none, percent, fraction, part, majority, remainder, and so forth, how can we decide if the verb will be singular or plural?



None of the garbage was/were picked up.
None of the chairs was/were comfortable.
She inspected all of the plates and none was/were chipped.



Can anyone please give some more examples and help me out...


Examples:



None of the pie was eaten.
None of the children were hungry.



In a sentence like “None were missing,” there is an implicit noun that answers the question, “None of what?” That noun is what determines whether none takes a plural or singular verb.


Examples:



None were missing. (None of the cookies were missing.)
None was missing. (None of the pie was missing.)





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