Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

NOTHING, NO ONE, NOBODY

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The pronouns nothing, no one (also written no-one) and nobody are more

emphatic than the parallel structures not … anything/anyone/anybody. Compare:

I did 

nothing at all yesterday.

I did

n’t do anything at all yesterday.

Not … anything

and not … anyone/anybody are the neutral choices and are

therefore used more often than nothing and no one/nobody, which are used in

more emphatic contexts:

I have

n’t heard anything from Marie for ages.

Don’t ask me what’s happening. I know 

nothing.

Do

n’t tell anyone I’m coming. I want it to be a surprise.

I can think of 

no one who sings as beautifully as Lisa.

It’s a big, big secret for the moment. Tell 

nobody.

Nobody

is a variant of no one but, although the two forms mean the same, there is

a difference in the way they are used. In spoken language, nobody is far more

frequent than no one. In written texts, no one is much more frequent than nobody.

Nobody

and no one can be used as emphatic alternatives to not … anybody/not

anyone

:

We knew 

nobody when we first came to London.

(or: We knew no one when we first came to London.)

(both are more emphatic than: We didn’t know anybody when we first came to

London.)

Nobody

and no one, rather than not anybody/not anyone are used as the subject

of a clause:

We need engineers but 

nobody wants to learn how to be one.

(preferred to: … but not anybody wants to learn how to be one.)

You can describe the past, but 

no one can predict the future.

Nothing

, no one and nobody can be followed by but, the whole phrase having the

meaning of ‘only’:

They must tell the truth and 

nothing but the truth.

(… and only the truth)

No one but the head of the company himself should meet the delegation at the

airport.

(Only the head of the company …)