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"None of my friends" is singular or plural?

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"None of my friends" is singular or plural?

by EdWood » Tue Aug 17, 2010 1:28 am
SC Question from Kaplan 800:

As of this morning, none of my friends have been able to solve the puzzle contained in last week's newspaper.

A) none of my friends have been able to solve
B) none of my friends was able to solve
C) not one of my friends has yet been able to solve
D) none of my friends has been able to solve
E) nobody among my friends ave solved.

-> In the explanation of the above question book says: "None is singular (like every or everyone) and so it need singular verb.
So, (D) is te correct answer choice. none (singular)... has been (singular).

But, I am bit confused here, I remember in Manhattan SC guide its written for Infinitive pronoun "None" (as in SANAM: Some , Any, None, All, Most) to determine Singular/ plural look at the 'of' construction which usually follows the pronoun.
eg: Some of the money was stolen....
Some of the documents were stolen....
If this is true then correct answer will be (A), None of my friends (plural)... have been (pl.)

These two theories are contradictory.

Can anyone please help to resolve this.

Thanks!!
Ed
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by uwhusky » Tue Aug 17, 2010 8:47 am
According to my little widget from Oxford American Dictionary:

USAGE It is sometimes held that none can take only a singular verb, never a plural verb: : none of them is coming tonight, rather than : none of them are coming tonight. There is little justification, historical or grammatical, for this view. None is descended from Old English n�n, meaning 'not one,' and has been used for around a thousand years with both a singular and a plural verb, depending on the context and the emphasis needed.

So it is a somewhat controversial issue, and therefore I doubt that GMAT would make this the "only" error on a question. Perhaps if you do come across a question like this one on the actual test, maybe consult GMAC afterward by citing an example like the one above.
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by pradeepkaushal9518 » Tue Aug 17, 2010 8:54 am
none of ... is singular but some of... is taking verb according to subject.

singular subject as money is singular/collective hence was stolen but documents is plural hence were stolen is correct
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by e-GMAT » Tue Aug 17, 2010 9:45 am
This question has been addressed in multiple posts by a couple of experts. Please view the following threads to view the details.

https://www.beatthegmat.com/none-of-my-f ... 62-15.html

In summary, this is a controversial topic. But you should not worry about it because there is not a single OG problem that tests the usage of none. Thus, the official stand of GMAT with regards to whether it is singular or plural is not known. That being said, I came across one OG 12 Question that considers "none of the attempts" as singular. This is in the non-underlined portion of the sentence of Question #22.

I hope this helps.

Payal
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by anantbhatia » Tue Aug 17, 2010 10:00 am
'And then there were none' -Agatha Christie. :)
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by madhukumar_v » Tue Aug 17, 2010 10:33 am
Can we use Present Perfect(has been), when the author is mentioning about a specific time in the past, viz., As of this morning? Appreciate if some one can explain..
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by EdWood » Tue Aug 17, 2010 3:44 pm
Thank you all.
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by EdWood » Tue Aug 17, 2010 3:49 pm
Hi Madhukumar,

here is my justifcation to use Present Preect:

"As of this morning, none of my friends have been able to solve the puzzle contained in last week's newspaper."

We can use Present perfect (has been) in above question because it states an action which started in past but still continuing in present.

"As of this morning....last week new's paper."

It means till morning(in present), though the action started in past (last week).

I hope it helps.
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