Word Court
Atlantic, The, January, 2005 by Barbara Wallraff
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J IM PHILPOT, of Cookeville, Tennessee, writes, "In last November's Word Court you wrote, 'None of the major Romance languages—languages directly descended from Latin—have retained …' Shouldn't have have read has ? Or is the equivalent of not one considered a plural form?"
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Not one (ahem—please notice I didn't say none ) of a dozen leading usage manuals and dictionaries that I checked agrees unequivocally with you that none has to be singular. The Associated Press Stylebook does agree with you, though, that the word should have been singular in my sentence. It says, "Use a plural verb only if the sense is no two or no amount: None of the consultants agree on the same approach. None of the taxes have been paid. " But most of my reference books say that none may be used with either a plural or a singular verb ...
