No / none / any, nothing / nobody

no means “not a” or “not any”. It goes straight before a noun — singular, plural or uncountable — and the verb stays positive. none is used when no noun follows: on its own, or as none of + the/my/these… / it / them.

• There's no bus after eleven, so we took a taxi.

• Sorry, I have no idea where she is.

• How many tickets are left? — None. They sold out this morning.

• I bought three melons, but none of them were sweet.

no + noun and not … any + noun mean the same: There's no sugar = There isn't any sugar. In speech, not … any is more common; no sounds stronger and more definite. After none of + a plural noun, the verb can be plural or singular: None of my friends smoke / smokes (plural is more natural in speech, singular is more formal).

💡A common mistake is “There is not bread”. Remember: not goes with a verb (isn't, don't, didn't), and no goes with a noun: There's no bread / There isn't any bread. And no never comes before of — before of you need none.

no- + -thing / -body / -one / -where gives words that are already negative. They can be the subject, the object, or a one-word answer. no one is usually written as two words (British English also writes no-one).

• Nobody answered the phone.

• What did you buy? — Nothing. It was all too expensive.

• I said nothing. = I didn't say anything.

  the two sentences mean the same

• We had nowhere to stay that night.

• Nobody in my class has done their homework.

  singular has, but their

A sentence needs only one negative word: either a no- word with a positive verb (I saw nobody), or not + any- (I didn't see anybody). As the subject, use the no- word: Nobody came — not “Anybody didn't come” or “Not anybody came”.

💡In many languages two negatives are normal, so learners say “I don't know nothing”. Standard English keeps only one negative word: I don't know anything or I know nothing. (You may hear “I don't know nothing” in songs or very casual speech, but it isn't standard English.)

In a positive sentence, any / anything / anybody / anywhere means “it doesn't matter which / what / who / where”. With this meaning any often goes with a singular noun (any bus, any colour), and it is common with can / could, you like and I don't mind.

• Take any seat you like.

• This is really easy. Anybody can do it.

• I'm so hungry I could eat anything.

• Call me any time. I'm usually at home.

Compare no- (zero) and any- (it doesn't matter which):

💡Any in questions and negatives (Is there any milk? I don't have any) is explained in the lesson “Some and any”. Here, notice its second meaning: any in a positive sentence = “it doesn't matter which”.

• ✗I didn't see nobody.

  ✓I didn't see anybody. / I saw nobody.

  Use only one negative word.

• ✗There is not bread left.

  ✓There is no bread left. / There isn't any bread left.

  not goes with a verb, no goes with a noun.

• ✗No of my friends live near me.

  ✓None of my friends live near me.

  Before of, use none, not no.

• ✗None student passed the test.

  ✓No student passed the test.

  none can't come before a noun.

• ✗Is there any sugar? — No, there's no.

  ✓No, there's none. / No, there isn't any.

  no needs a noun after it; on its own, use none.

• ✗Anybody didn't come to the meeting.

  ✓Nobody came to the meeting.

  As the subject of a negative idea, use nobody.