None…Is/Are

Don’t Say: He wants a jukebox, but none are available.
Say Instead: He wants a jukebox, but none is available.

Here’s Why: The rules on this one are genuinely in flux. Unlike the indefinite pronouns listed earlier, “none,” along with “some,” “any,” and “all,” isn’t always singular. It can be either singular or plural depending on the meaning of your sentence. The rule of thumb is: If it refers to a group in total, or to a thing as a whole, then “none” is usually viewed as singular and takes a singular verb. If it refers to a number of things, meaning your emphasis is on the quantity of the parts and not on the whole, then “none” is considered plural. In our example, He wants a jukebox, but none are available, we’re talking about not one jukebox, so the plural verb, “are,” is incorrect. Let’s look at a few more examples:

None of the cakes are ready.
(Here “none” refers to a number of cakes, so the plural form “are” is correct.)

None of the cement is left.
(In this case, we’re not talking about a number, we’re
talking about a mass of cement taken as a whole, so it’s
singular, and the singular verb “is” is correct.)

None of the rules were broken.
(Here we’re referring to more than one rule, so the plural
verb “were” is fine.)

This particular rule is pretty tough, because sometimes it’s hard to tell from the context whether the meaning is plural or singular. “None” is especially tricky in this regard. Most gram¬marians are genuinely fuzzy about this one. Conservative speak-ers insist that it should always be singular. In older English it was always singular; now it is more frequently plural unless we’re talking about an indefinable mass of something, such as cement or plastic or spaghetti. Very conservative speakers might also use the singular in the following sentence:
None of the students has finished the test yet.

The argument here is that the speaker means to take the students together as a single group. But it’s hard for most speak¬ers to use the singular in a sentence such as this one:

None of my brothers are going to the dance.

Again, the brothers could be taken together as a single group that needs a singular verb. But to most people, this sen¬tence communicates an idea of a number of nondancing broth¬ers. If you really want to use a singular verb, you could say something such as Not one of my brothers is going to the dance. So, as a rule of thumb, you’re probably going to want to use a plural verb with “none.” But if you feel the real meaning of the subject is singular, go with that instinct—the rule is loose enough to accommodate you.