Pronouns: either, neither, each, another, and none

[josephgreer]

I need clarification on GMAC's view of the these pronouns.

I understand that Either, Neither, Each, and Another all take only singular verbs. This makes the following sentences I invented on the spot sound terrible. I thought that like the pronoun "most", these pronouns would take the tense of their antecedents. Are these all correct?
1. Another one of the musicians is playing loudly.
2. Each of the hotels is located right on the beach.
3. Neither you nor your friends runs a small business?
4. Either the dogs or the cats has to be taken to the vet.
5. Either of the two boys is coming to dinner.


None: I understand that None can take either a singular or a plural verb in formal English. Does the GMAT favor one over another?
None of them is here. <== Correct
None of them are here. <=== Also Correct

On the whole, I'm confused.

[StaceyKoprince]

1. Another one of the musicians is playing loudly. YES
2. Each of the hotels is located right on the beach. YES
3. Neither you nor your friends runs a small business? NO - see below
4. Either the dogs or the cats has to be taken to the vet. NO - see below
5. Either of the two boys is coming to dinner. YES

With "neither/nor" sentences, you base the subject-verb agreement on the one noun that is closest to the verb. In both of your cases above, a plural noun is the one closest to the verb (friends and cats, respectively). Friends run, cats have. If you reversed the order of the two nouns, you'd change the subject-verb agreement. For example:

Either the dog or the cats have to be taken to the vet.
Either the cats or the dog has to be taken to the vet.

I agree - a lot of these sound horrible. But that doesn't make them wrong. :)

[josephgreer]

Stacey, thanks for the reply.

Can you also give guidance on the conjugation for the two sentences with 'none' in the original post?

[RonPurewal]

The preferred usage of 'none' is, for the most part, singular. But, like you said, either one is generally acceptable - at least from what we can tell based on released GMAT material.