Timeline for if none observe me -- why not "if none observes me"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
6 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 11, 2015 at 14:16 | comment | added | Jacinto | Quite so. Not that this will shed much light on the present question, but if you like statistics you may look at to be, where subjunctive and indicative are different | |
| Nov 11, 2015 at 14:00 | comment | added | Tim Pederick | @Jacinto: It fits the context. Most verbs look identical in the present plural and in the subjunctive, but that doesn't mean we always have to interpret a sentence as using the present plural (if valid) rather than the subjunctive. And in this case, identifying it as the subjunctive avoids the singular/plural status of "none" entirely. Still, you could argue that present plural is a simpler explanation, and therefore better (applying Occam's Razor)... | |
| Nov 11, 2015 at 13:55 | comment | added | Jacinto | I thought you meant otherwise, because if none is plurar is there a reason to think none observe is subjunctive, given the rare use of the subjunctive? | |
| Nov 11, 2015 at 13:48 | comment | added | Tim Pederick | @Jacinto: Nope. I would say "none are suitable", not "none is suitable". | |
| Nov 4, 2015 at 8:20 | comment | added | Jacinto | Do you mean "I would always take 'none' to be singular"? That's what I was expecting from from what you had written before. | |
| Oct 18, 2015 at 8:45 | history | answered | Tim Pederick | CC BY-SA 3.0 |