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I am kind of confused.... Are the two sentences below the same?
Let’s pretend that none of this had ever/never happened.
Let’s pretend that none of this have ever/never happened.
If it’s different, can you please be specific on how they are different from each other?
The first sentence makes sense:
Let’s pretend that none of this had ever happened.
The second sentence doesn't make grammatical sense:
Let’s pretend that none of this have ever happened.
"have ever happened" isn't correct here.
Let’s pretend that none of this had ever/never happened.
Let’s pretend that none of this have ever/never happened.
Both sentences are in present tense, and the noun phrase, 'none of this', is singular, hence 'has' could be more suitable than 'had' or 'have'.
For information, 'none of these' would be plural.
Also, in both examples, the adverb, 'never', if used would lead to double-negative.
Both examples hence are not recommended.
A guide on the use of 'none of' is shown below.
None of
We use none with of before the, demonstratives (this, that), possessives (my, your) or pronouns:
None of his old friends knew what had happened to him.
It doesn’t matter. None of it was your fault.
We don’t use none of when there is already a negative word (not, n’t) in the clause:
She doesn’t remember any of us.
Not: She doesn’t remember none of us.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/no-none-and-none-of
