None: Beefart replies

Thanks for you comments. Few take the time to discuss grammar on Wikipedia and it shows in many articles. I disagree with you about 'none'. The word comes from the Old Norse ne an, which means, literally "no one". In my view, to get the sense of any usage of 'none' we must expand it in our minds to "no one". It is impossible to say "no one are dinosaurs". It has to be "no one is a dinosaur". Here are two examples from the OED: (E.J. Howard): Except for her eyes, none of her features was remarkable. (P. Rose): People sought her... but none was a companion. HOWEVER, the plot thickens, because the OED also gives this example from Graham Greene, who is highly regarded as a writer: None of our wives are invited. This flies in the face of the first two examples and suggests that the OED has given up the fight. Maybe I ought to as well ) ). There are of course some situations where expanding "none" to "no one" does not make any sense as either a singular or a plural. (e.g. None of the increase is due to...). Here the best we can hope for is to propose that "none" is a synonym for "nothing". I personally try to avoid expressions such as "None of the increase" and would be inclined to write "No part of the increase"...