0
Anonymous Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
using "None" as a subject??
None ........ on time for they missed the train.
Do i fill the gap with "was" or "were"?
I've been taught that NONE is treated as plural in American English while in British English, it's treated as singular.
Now in the sentence, my teacher said the word "they" suggests that American English is being used here since "they" = plural. And if you want to change the whole sentence into British English, it would be something like: None was on time for he/she missed the train.
The British English sentence one makes no sense to me. It just sounds so wrong using she/he there.
My question is: Does the pronoun in the sentence really affect the decision of which form of verb I should use? I thought whatever pronoun is used in sentence, when it comes to British English, you just put a singular verb in it. Accordingly, "was" should be another possible word to fill in the gap.
Thank you in advance
Do i fill the gap with "was" or "were"?
I've been taught that NONE is treated as plural in American English while in British English, it's treated as singular.
Now in the sentence, my teacher said the word "they" suggests that American English is being used here since "they" = plural. And if you want to change the whole sentence into British English, it would be something like: None was on time for he/she missed the train.
The British English sentence one makes no sense to me. It just sounds so wrong using she/he there.
My question is: Does the pronoun in the sentence really affect the decision of which form of verb I should use? I thought whatever pronoun is used in sentence, when it comes to British English, you just put a singular verb in it. Accordingly, "was" should be another possible word to fill in the gap.
Thank you in advance
Top answer
Anonymous None ........ on time for they missed the train. The sentence is not a very good example to use.
- Anonymous None ........
- on time for they missed the train.
- The sentence is not a very good example to use.
- While not strictly incorrect, it is pretty strained and sounds like something out of a very old book of exercises for schoolchildren.
- In both British English and American English, "none" can be treated as singular or plural, depending on the needs of the context.
Get the Weekly English Kit 📬
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
2 Answers
0
AnonymousNone ........ on time for they missed the train.The sentence is not a very good example to use. While not strictly incorrect, it is pretty strained and sounds like something out of a very old book of exercises for schoolchildren.
In both British English and American English, "none" can be treated as singular or plural, depending on the
00
The sentence is so unnatural that it is difficult to discuss. The least unnatural alternatives I can come up with are:
They missed the train because none of them was/were on time.
None of them was/were on time, and so they missed the train.
(Cross-posted)
They missed the train because none of them was/were on time.
None of them was/were on time, and so they missed the train.
(Cross-posted)
0
Related Questions