Hi,chikako. I'm not sure if I can answer properly, but let me try it.
>we have to use a singular form when we use "None of..." (eg. None of the English Japanese teachers who I met has not lived any foreign countries.) But in a conversation, native English speakers use plural. Besides, some Americans told me that if I used the singular tense in the sentence, none of the...,they would feel"it's ok, but it sounds weird".
I think your professor is right. "none of〜" means "nobody" or "nothing",so it has to agree with a singular form. It's a grammatical rule. But it is also well known that "none of〜" can agree with a plural form in a daily conversation, so when you write an essay, you should use singular, when you speak English, you should use plural.
>
> Also the prof. taught us that American English tends to use singular more often than British English. For example, when we use "The family..." in a sentence, Americans use singular, but British would use plural.(eg. The family arrives together at 7:00,as the US English. The family arrive together at 7:00,as the UK English.)
>
> It means, if I'm in the UK, British people would think that my English is incorrect?? Do I have to use it differently each country? What about tests? Still, my English is mingled with American and British a little.
It is also said that American English tends to prefer a singular form when they use a collective noun, but I think that's a little bit over-generalized.
Actually, I have told you about it before in Voice, haven't I? That depends on what the speaker focuses on. When the speaker thinks of "the family" as the whole group, the singular agreement should be better. When he thinks of the family as components in a group, plural will be better.
cf.
He has a large family.
His family, all of them, like music.
[No.1236] 2007/11/11(Sun) 15:48:32 |
singular vs plural - Chikako - 2007/11/10(Sat) 04:46:44 [No.1235]
└ 