Page 184 - English Grammar in Use

Unit
86 no/none/any nothing/nobody etc.

A no and none
We use no + noun (no bus, no shops etc.).
no = not a or not any:
We had to walk home. There was no bus. (= There wasn’t a bus.)
Sarah will have no trouble finding a job. (= Sarah won’t have any trouble …)
There were no shops open. (= There weren’t any shops open.)
You can use no + noun at the beginning of a sentence:
No reason was given for the change of plan.
We use none without a noun:
‘How much money do you have?’ ‘None.’ (= no money)
All the tickets have been sold. There are none left. (= no tickets left)
Or we use none of … :
This money is all yours. None of it is mine.
Compare no, none and any:
I have no luggage.
‘How much luggage do you have?’ ‘None.’ or ‘I don’t have any.’
After none of + plural (none of the students, none of them etc.) the verb can be singular or plural:
None of the students were happy. or None of the students was happy.

B nothing nobody/no-one nowhere
You can use these words at the beginning of a sentence or alone (as answers to questions):
‘What’s going to happen?’ ‘Nobody knows. / No-one knows.’
‘What happened?’ ‘Nothing.’
‘Where are you going?’ ‘Nowhere. I’m staying here.’
You can also use these words after a verb, especially after be and have:
The house is empty. There’s nobody living there.
We had nothing to eat.
nothing/nobody etc. = not + anything/anybody etc. :
I said nothing. = I didn’t say anything.
Jane told nobody about her plans. = Jane didn’t tell anybody about her plans.
They have nowhere to live. = They don’t have anywhere to live.

With nothing/nobody etc., we do not use a negative verb (isn’t, didn’t etc.):
I said nothing. (not I didn’t say nothing)

C After nobody/no-one you can use they/them/their (see also Unit 85E):
Nobody is perfect, are they? (= is he or she perfect?)
No-one did what I asked them to do. (= him or her)
Nobody in the class did their homework. (= his or her homework)

D Sometimes any/anything/anybody etc. means ‘it doesn’t matter which/what/who’ (see Unit 85D).
Compare no- and any-:
There was no bus, so we walked home.
You can take any bus. They all go to the centre. (= it doesn’t matter which bus)
‘What do you want to eat?’ ‘Nothing. I’m not hungry.’
I’m so hungry. I could eat anything. (= it doesn’t matter what)
It’s a difficult job. Nobody wants to do it.
It’s a very easy job. Anybody can do it. (= it doesn’t matter who)

172 some and any ➜ Unit 85 none of … ➜ Unit 88 any bigger / no better etc. ➜ Unit 106B