On Mon, 20 Oct 1997, Warren Toomey wrote:
> [JLT had written]:
>
> > No, 'completely' is what I intended (as in 'none processed completely
> > successfully'). Whether or not it's proper diction is for someone other
> > than me to decide.
>
>
> How about `None were completely sucessful'?
Diction? Or grammar? Presumably the latter. I believe it should be:
"None was completely successful". "None" is singular, meaning "not one
(of them)", "not any (of them)"
(Perhaps someone with greater grammatical knowledge could indicate whether
"were" might be correct if the word were (sic) a subjunctive.)
Yours most pedantically!
--
: David Lee I.T. Service :
: Systems Programmer Computer Centre :
: University of Durham :
: Phone: +44 191 374 2882 (ddi) South Road :
: Fax: +44 191 374 7759 Durham :
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