None is/are

[Catzenobia]

As far as I am aware, it is correct to say "none of them is" etc. as none is singular. However, it does sound obsessively pedantic. What do you think?

I say 'none [of ...] is'. People give me weird looks.

none = not one, so "none of them is" is technically correct. But much correct grammar sounds pedantic in these days of laxity and foreign influence. [pomposity icon]

None is. Be correct and never mind the funny looks.

Oh good, it's not just me then.

I think not splitting infinitives sounds more silly but I still do that. (Don't split them - wow I'm really advertising my pedantic grammatical credentials here ).

Not splitting infinitives really is a silly rule, and one that, as modern, forward-thinking pedants, we should really drop. It only became a rule in English because 'they' were looking for ways of defining the grammar of English, and decided to model it on Latin - the 'perfect' language. But in Latin, as in French and other more closely Latin-based languages, the infinitive is one word, not two as in English. So you cannot split an inifinitive in Latin (or French, Spanish, etc). But that rule is irrelevant in English.

So I, as a fully-fledged pedant, maintain my right to well and truly split my infinitives.

(With a nod to Churchill, WS.)

lol at modern, forward-thinking pedants
that would be your actual bona fide oxymoron, then?

LOL!

Yes - none = not one