**Modern English: "none" is a pronoun**
In contemporary usage, *none* replaces a noun phrase. It doesn't modify a
noun directly.
- *None of the students came* → *none* = pronoun standing in for "no
students"
- *I want none* → *none* = pronoun for "no amount/number"
- *No students came* → *no* took over the determiner/adjective job
Saying *none effect* or *none occasion* sounds straight out of Shakespeare
today. We use *no effect*, *no occasion* instead.
**Historical/Traditional grammar: "none" was an adjective/determiner**
You're spot-on about Nesfield and older grammars. Middle English and Early
Modern English used *none* before nouns, especially before vowels or *h*:
- *none other gods* — KJV, Acts 4:12
- *I can find none occasion of death in him* — KJV, Luke 23:22
- *none effect* — Romans 3:3, KJV
This was the uninflected form of Old English *nān* = *ne* "not" + *ān*
"one". The *no* vs *none* distinction used to be phonological: *none* before
vowels, *no* before consonants. That rule eroded, and *no* won out as the
attributive form.
So two correct answers depending on your frame:
| Framework | Is "none" a quantitative adjective? |
|