none of

IPA/nˈɒn ɒv/
IPA/nˈʌn ʌv/

none of — idiom

1. used before a group or amount to say that zero members or zero part of it is inc

1.idiomA2
Definition

used before a group or amount to say that zero members or zero part of it is included; the opposite of all or some.

Example

None of the students finished the maths test before the bell rang.

none of + the + plural noun (people)

Indra tasted all three soups, but none of them was warm enough.

none of + pronoun (them)

Common collocations
  • none of the
  • none of them
  • none of us
  • none of it
Synonyms
  • not any of

    more emphatic and often more informal than 'none of'

  • not one of

    stresses individual members of a group rather than the whole

Antonyms
  • all of

    the complete set rather than zero of it

  • some of

    a part of the set rather than zero

Grammar Patterns

none of + the/this/these/them + noun or pronoun

Usage Note

Followed by a determiner or possessive plus a noun, or by a pronoun (none of them, none of us), never by a bare noun. With uncountable or singular nouns the verb is usually singular; with plural nouns both singular (formal) and plural (everyday) verbs are heard.

Common Mistakes

None of students passed.
None of the students passed.
'none of' needs a determiner (the, my, these) before the noun.
No of them came.
None of them came.
the word is 'none', not 'no', before 'of'.

Etymology

Old EnglishMiddle EnglishEnglish

The phrase joins 'none' with the preposition 'of'. 'None' grew from Old English 'nān', a blend of 'ne' (not) and 'ān' (one), so its oldest sense is literally 'not one'. Pairing it with 'of' lets speakers point at a specific group or amount and say that zero of it counts.