My favorite thing used to be to call the Eagle copy desk and ask if "none" is a plural or singular noun. (Although my editor and I disagree on how closely the rule should be observed, "none" is singular. If the sentence, "None of them is attending" makes you a little queasy at first, remember that "none" is essentially a contraction of "not one": "Not one is attending.") The beleaguered-sounding clerk would answer, "singular," and I'd say, yes, I thought so too, and then read back to him whatever copy I'd found in that morning's edition in which it was used with a plural verb.
