Apparently restaurant reviewers are a lot more temperamental than authors:

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jul/23/mediamonkey

 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jul/23/mediamonkey

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When in doubt, go conversational.
"None" = "not one". It's singular. In awkward constructions, there are other ways of saying it. :)
Ahem.

None: 1.No one, not any one, of a number of persons or things... 2.Not one of a particular class.


Oxford English Dictionary.

It's both.
I stand corrected. You're right, Jon. Apparently an old edition (1959) of Strunk and White was responsible for that misconception.
I don't follow. Both 1 and 2 seem singular to me. I guess I'll have to walk downstairs and consult the OED.
Yes, I see it can be both. Logic doesn't enter into this apparently. Swinbourne seems to take the plural from the subsequent prepositional phrase. the "of a number of persons or things". Prepositional phrases ought not to influence subject-verb agreement.

Actually, as I said, I base my rule on Inspector Morse. The "not one" meaning seems to cover the situation well. In any case, the editor changed my singular to plural and I changed it back (twice). And would do so again.

Which is not to say I don't use the plural when I'm speaking.
Re Wiki article: This deals with usage, not sentence logic. For that matter, the OED does, too, at least in the examples it cites. I tend to get a bit hung up on grammar rules, having been raised with Latin. :) Also the contraction "none" seems to be based on "not one" and not on "not any".
However, quite right: casual use seems to prefer the plural, if for no better reason than to avoid the "his/her" problem in PC English.
Proper construction whether it sounds right or no should always be used unless it is dialogue.
Disagree. It also depends on point of view and voice.
Well? I guess you're right.
seems to want to clutter my prose with unnecessary "ands" and "thens."

You are always better off if you can OMIT as many ands and thens as possible! :) They are like fifth wheels in prose. The reader won't miss them at all!
It all depends. They are links and add to the narrative flow. Granted, mostly the facts aren't affected, but surely the style could be, one way or the other.

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