Question

Dear all,I was wondering if you could tell me whether the following sentence is correct."But none of them either are close enough to the work to properly judge the level of the contribution."If yes, can you define why we have 'are' after none?!Thanks in advance.

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

talentI was wondering if you could tell me whether the following sentence is correct.

No, it is not. I think you mean one of these:

But none of them is/are close enough to the work to properly judge the level of the contribution. = More than 2 people too far away.
But neither of them is close enough to the work to properly judge the level of the contribution. = 2 people too far away.
But neither are they close enough to the work to properly judge the level of the contribution. = And there is another problem.

talent, can you define why we have 'are' after none?

Yes, I can. Because either is accepted nowadays:

Usage note

Since 'none' has the meanings “not one” and “not any,” some insist that it always be treated as a singular and be followed by a singular verb: 'The rescue party searched for survivors, but none was found.' However, 'none' has been used with both singular and plural verbs since the 9th century. When the sense is “not any persons or things” (as in the example above), the plural is more common: …'none were found.' Only when 'none' is clearly intended to mean “not one” or “not any” is it followed by a singular verb: 'Of all my articles, none has received more acclaim than my latest one.'

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