none other than
That very person or thing, the same as. For example, In the elevator I ran into none other than the woman we'd been talking about, or It turned out to be none other than Jim in a clown costume. [Late 1800s]
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Should I use a singular or plural verb with none?None means ‘not one’ or ‘not any’ and it may take either a singular or plural verb. Writers are more or less free to decide which meaning is appropriate in their context. This grammatical construction, which is based on sense rather than form, is called notional agreement or notional concord, and is very common. So, consider none as singular when you want to emphasize a single entity in a group, but …
Nearby words
- nondrip,
- nondurable,
- none,
- none of one's business,
- none of the above,
- none the wiser,
- none the worse for,
- none too,
- none-so-pretty,
- noneconomic
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.