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