Collins Cobuild

Unit 12
Negative words
Main points
A negative sentence contains a negative word.
You do not normally use two negative words in the same clause.
1
Negative statements contain a negative word.
not
nobody
neither
never
no one
nor
no
nothing
none
nowhere
See Unit
11
for negative statements using ‘not’.
2
You use ‘never’ to say that something was not the case at any time, or
will not be the case at any time.
If the verb group has more than one word, you put ‘never’ after the
first word.
I’ve never had such a horrible meal.
He could never trust her again.

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3
If the only verb in the sentence is the present simple or past simple of
any main verb except ‘be’, you put ‘never’ before the verb.
She never goes abroad.
He never went to university.
If the only verb in the sentence is the simple present or simple past of
the main verb ‘be’, you normally put ‘never’ after the verb.
He’s never late.
There were never any people in the house.
You can also use ‘never’ at the beginning of an imperative sentence.
Never walk alone late at night.
4
You use ‘no’ before a noun to say that something does not exist or is
not available.
He has given no reason for his decision.
The island has no trees at all.
Note that if there is another negative word in the clause, you use ‘any’,
not ‘no’.
It won’t do any good.
5
You use ‘none’ or ‘none of’ to say that there is not even one thing or
person, or not even a small amount of something.
You can’t go to a college here because there are none in this area.
‘Where’s the coffee?’ – ‘There’s none left.’
None of us understood the play.
See Unit
27
for more information on ‘none’ and ‘none of’.
6
You also use ‘nobody’, ‘no one’, ‘nothing’, and ‘nowhere’ in negative
statements.

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You use ‘nobody’ or ‘no one’ to talk about people.
Nobody in her house knows any English.
No one knew.
‘No one’ can also be written ‘no-one’.
There’s no-one here.
You use ‘nothing’ to talk about things.
There’s nothing you can do.
You use ‘nowhere’ to talk about places.
There’s almost nowhere left to go.
See Unit
21
for more information about these words.
7
You do not normally use two negative words in the same clause. For
example, you do not say ‘Nobody could see nothing’. You say ‘Nobody
could see anything’.
You  use  ‘anything’,  ‘anyone’,  ‘anybody’,  and  ‘anywhere’  instead  of
‘nothing’, ‘no one’, ‘nobody’, and ‘nowhere’ when the clause already
contains a negative word.
No-one can find Howard or Barbara anywhere.
I could never discuss anything with them.
8
 The  only  negative  words  that  are  often  used  together  in  the  same
clause are ‘neither’ and ‘nor’.
You use ‘neither’ and ‘nor’ together to say that two alternatives are not
possible, not likely, or not true.
Neither Margaret nor John was there.
They had neither food nor money.

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