None of the attempts to specify the

None of the attempts to specify the cause of crime explains why most of the people exposed to the alleged causes do not commit crimes and, conversely, why so many of those not so exposed have.

2 Explanations

▲

DINO JOY

I have doubt related to subject and verb in the non-underlined portion of this sentence. Is the subject "None of the attempts" and verb "explains". If its the case, the subject-verb is not in agreement. Can you please explain

Jan 6, 2017 • Comment

Adam

Hi Dino! "None" in this case is singular ( = "not one" of the attempts).

"None" can be either singular or plural depending on the context. In this case, it's clear that the sentence is focusing on the individual attempts, and not one of them explains...

Jan 6, 2017 • Reply

▲

Mike McGarry, Magoosh Tutor