[Grammar] none of my cousins was/were

[Oceanlike]

Another subject-verb agreement confusion....This should be basic yet i'm unsure if the verb should go with the determiner 'none' or the subject 'cousins' :-(


- None of my cousins was/were present for the get-together last evening.


Thank you for teaching me! :-D

 

[teechar]

None of my cousins was/were present for the get-together [STRIKE]last[/STRIKE] yesterday evening.
You can use either was/were.

 

[Oceanlike]

@ teechar, as in 'none' with was, and 'my cousins' with were?

 

[teechar]

None of my cousins was at the get-together yesterday evening.
or
None of my cousins were at the get-together yesterday evening.

 

[Oceanlike]

Please help me to understand why I cannot use 'last' evening.

Thank you!

 

[teechar]

Please help me to understand why I cannot use 'last' evening.

It's unnatural. Did you mean "yesterday evening" in the original sentence or something else?

 

[Oceanlike]

Yes, I meant "yesterday evening" :-D

 

[MikeNewYork]

I have no problem with "last evening".

 

[emsr2d2]

It's another AmE vs BrE difference. I don't know why but in BrE:

Yesterday morning
Yesterday lunchtime
Yesterday afternoon
Yesterday evening
Last night

We only use "last evening" in phrases like "I can't remember the last evening I spent at a pub".

 

[MikeNewYork]

Oceanlike, this is one of the best "rules" I have come across that deals with verb number following a subject that it is a noun that represents a part of a whole (including 100% and 0%. The number of the following prepositional object determines the number of the following verb.

Some of the cake was eaten.
Some of the cakes were eaten.

All of the cake was eaten.
All of the cakes were eaten.

None of the cake was eaten.
None of the cakes were eaten.

Some people say that "none" is always singular, but that is not correct. Because in your sentence, "cousins" is plural, I would use "were".

 

[Barb_D]

I find "yesterday evening" much more natural than "last evening."

 

[MikeNewYork]

What about "last night"?

 

[Rover_KE]

To me, 'last night' includes the evening of the previous day.

 

[Peedeebee]

For those who consider that "none" is synonymous with "not one", the singular/plural question would always be singular with "none". But we (?) (BrE) generally are happy with the inconsistency and use was/were as above.
Is it rather like the question of "The team was playing../ the team were playing" "The family were on holiday/ the family was on holiday" ?

Last evening Cousin Peter came,
Last evening Cousin Peter came... It was a children's rhyme I heard 55 years ago. Yesterday evening wouldn't scan in the rhyme. Perhaps it's rather archaic too.
(We would never say "last morning")

 

[TheParser]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

Hello, Oceanlike:

Here is the opinion of one expert.

1, " 'None' has always been closer in meaning to "not any."

a. "None of [the boxer's] fingers were broken." [author's emphasis]

2. "When you really [my emphasis] do mean 'not one,' it's better to say 'not one.' "

a. "Not one of [the boxer's] fingers was broken." [The author's emphases]


Authority: Patricia T. O'Conner, Woe Is I (1996 edition). Ms. O'Conner once worked for The New York Times, which is considered by many to be the leading American newspaper.