Almost none of them is /are

[hatgray]

Hi,

Which of the following is correct?

Almost none of them is / are going to the party?

Thanks

 

[Roman55]

Both are possible. Is is probably a little more formal, and are is probably a little more natural, to my ear at least.

The choice can be one of style, preference or emphasis. The singular would emphasize the individual members of a given group and the plural would put the emphasis on the group as a whole.

In your example I would use are since the number not going is clearly more than one.

 

[GoesStation]

Almost none of them is / are going to the party?

Only are sounds possible to my American-English-trained ears.

 

[emsr2d2]

Part of the problem is that it's unlikely that a native speaker would use this construction.

Some of them are going to the party.
Only a few of them are going to the party.

Q. John's invited 20 people to the party. How many are going?
A. Hardly any of them.

Q. (Same)
A. Almost none of them.

Q. (Same)
A. Just a few.

 

[GoesStation]

How about this? A teacher, shaking her head and frowning, tells her student "You've given fifty answers on this exam paper. Almost none of them are right!"

 

[Tdol]

I would use are, but some grammar traditionalists favour is, which sounds odd to me.