It is possible for all of them to be given work...

[maryanitha]

got this ques from gettoefl.com forum . i saw the answers there but was not convinced

It is possible for all of them to be given work since ______ them are unsuited to the task.

A. neither of
B. all of
C. few of
D. none of

this is kind of confusing. can somebody who is confident please explain this please.

thanks



Moved from TOEFL Grammar forum to General English Grammar forum.

[ttaann]

Hi maryanitha,

It is possible for all of them to be given work since ___ them are unsuited to the task.
A. neither of
B. all of
C. few of
D. none of

The answer is D. The trick here is:

None + plural noun==> use plural verb
None + non-count noun==> use single verb.

A couple of example for you:

None of these pens work.
None of the news was interesting.

HTH.

[Erin]

First, I hope this question was from their forum, and not one of their exercises. I am in regular contact with the owner of that site, so I'd like to be sure there are no copyright problems.

Second, if you are confused about whether or not "none" can be singular or plural, please read this post:

http://www.TestMagic.com/forum/topic...ingular,plural

Finally, this question is also confusing because of the double negative, "none" and "unsuited." If people are unsuited for a task, they cannot do it. If none of them are unsuited for the task, all of them can do it. So, it is possible for all of them to be given work. Of course, a great trick for this kind of question is to make two negatives into a positive: none of them are unsuited for the task ==> all of them are suited for the task. (Disclaimer: This trick won't always work!)

Oh, I moved this question from the TOEFL forum because this type of puzzle/meaning question doesn't appear on the TOEFL.

[maryanitha]

thanks Erin Billy and ttaann for your replies.

yeah now i understand the concept.

BTW this question is from their forum and not from their exercises.

Anitha

[Erin]

Great! Glad everything's copacetic now!