<p>1 - The plurality or singularity of “none” is determined by the plurality or singularity of the object of the intervening prepositional phrase. E.g., “None of it is good; none of them are good.”</p>
<p>2 - Same as school #1 except “none” can be used as singular even when the object of the prepositional phrase is plural if you want to emphasize your point. E.g., “None of you is able to leave this room!”</p>
<p>3 - “none” must always be singular.</p>
<p>School #3 is widely considered a misconception by grammarians and should be ignored. Your best bet is to follow school #1 because no respectable source considers that wrong, whereas some people object to school #2.</p>
<p>Ah, I understand. Which one of the three schools of thought does the SAT use (i.e. which one of the three is considered correct by the College Board)?</p>
None can be plural even without an accompanying a prepositional phrase.</p>
<p>None are as hapless as those who’ve failed the SATs.</p>
<p>It depends on whether you want to say “not one” or “not any (any itself can be both singular and plural).” I’m not sure what school my usage falls under, but I follow Strunk and White’s guideline (it’s somewhere in their book, I don’t have it before me to quote from). </p>
<p>We conducted a search party for the survivors, but none were found.
We wanted to bake some cookies with brown sugar, but none was left in the sugar bag. (i’m usually terrible at making up illustrative sentences)</p>
<p>and also, does my question not count or something…I noticed mabsjenbu brought it up in a separate thread; the question stumped silverturtle. What’s the dealio benhpark?</p>
