I {heart} word nerds

[sarahmichigan]

On the plus side, I love that I work with a bunch of word nerds. Last week, a few of us got into a big debate about whether the word "none" is singular or plural. Would you say, "None of the customers were recognized as regulars?" or "None of the customers was recognized as a regular?" *

Even many of my friends who don't have English backgrounds have expansive vocabularies, and I love not having to dumb down the words I choose so as not to make someone feel inferior (unlike in high school when I was accused of using big words because I was trying to show off). I recently used "importune" in conversation and then kind of smirked at myself. Word nerd, indeed.

(yeah, so I'm chatty today. It's slooooooooow at work.)

*Most guides to grammar and style say either is acceptable. You can consider "none" to be short for "not one" or for "not any."

Comments

[lilpeace.livejournal.com]

I think of it like...which one of these is correct...

...the customers was...
or
...the customers were...

It seems that the 'was' or 'were' would be decided based on the subject, so then only the second would be correct. If "was" was acceptable in this sentence, then sentences such as "we was going to the store," or "they was regulars," would be acceptable as well--and as far as I know, they're not. At least, I hope they're not because they sound really wrong to me.

I like stuff like this too.

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

The problem is that "none" NOT "customers" is the subject of the sentence.

It's clearer in this example:

One of the hammers had a broken handle. It's not "hammers have a broken handle" but "one had a broken handle."

Same idea.