QUANTIFIERS

No, none and none of

de English Grammar Today

No and none of are determiners. None is a pronoun. No, none and none of indicate negation.

 

No

We use no directly before nouns:

I’ve got no time to waste.

There are no people I recognise here.

She says she has no friends.

None

None is the pronoun form of no. None means ‘not one’ or ‘not any’. We use it as a pronoun to replace countable and uncountable nouns. We use it as subject or object:

Slorne stared … and seemed to try to find some strength which would let her speak. Butnone came. (No strength came.)

My mother had two brothers. My father had none. (My father didn’t have any brothers.)

A:

What reasons did he give?

B:

None.

When none is the subject, the verb is either singular or plural depending on what it is referring to.

I’m always looking for inspiration. None ever comes.

She’s always looking for ideas. None ever come.

Warning:

We don’t use none where we mean no one or nobody:

They had a wonderful time and luckily no one was injured.

Not: … and luckily none was injured.

None of

We use none with of before the, demonstratives (this, that), possessives (my, your) or pronouns:

None of his old friends knew what had happened to him.

It doesn’t matter. None of it was your fault.

We don’t use none of when there is already a negative word (not, n’t) in the clause:

She doesn’t remember any of us.

Not: She doesn’t remember none of us.

Warning:

When we are referring to two things or people, we use neither of rather than noneof:

We sat down at the table, just the two of us. He carried on eating his food. Neither of us said anything.

Not: None of us said anything.

In formal styles, we use none of with a singular verb when it is the subject. However, in informal speaking, people often use plural verbs:

None of that surprises me.

Indeed, none of his novels is well shaped or well written.

None of the products have been tested on animals and all the bottles are recyclable.(informal)

Typical error

• We don’t use none directly before nouns. We use no + noun or none of + noun:

No children in my group caused any trouble. (or None of the children in my group …)

Not: None children in my group …

1) NO AND NONE

Ø We use no + noun.

Example:

- She had no shoes on.

- No information was given about how the study was conducted.

- There is no train until tomorrow.

Ø We use none without any noun after it.

Example:

- Have we got any more sugar? There’s none in the kitchen.

- ‘How many children have you got?’ ‘None.’

Ø We use no or none (of) instead of not a or not any to emphasize the negative idea in a sentence.

Compare:

Less emphatic	More emphatic
- There isn’t a key for this door. - She didn’t give me any help at all. - Sorry, there isn’t any left. - She didn’t have any of the typical symptoms of cholera.	- There’s no key for this door. - She gave no help at all. - Sorry, there is none left. - She had none of the typical symptoms of cholera.

Ø We use no or none (of) but we can’t use not any in initial position in a clause or sentence.

Example:

- No force was needed to make them move. (not Not any force was needed…)

- None of the children was awake. (not Not any of children…)

NOTE: We often prefer no and none of rather than not anyin formal written English.

2) NOT A

We use not a in a formal or literary style we can use not ain initial position in a clause or sentence.

Example:

- Not a word would she say about the robbery.

- Not a sound came from the classroom.

3) NO

After no, we use a singular noun in situations where we would expect one of something, and a plural noun where we would expect more than one.

Compare:

- Since his resignation, the team has had no manager. (rather than …had no managers.)

- There were no biscuits left. (rather than …was no biscuit left.)

- He seems very lonely at school, and has no friends. (rather than …no friend.)

NOTE: Sometimes we can use either a singular or plural noun with little difference in meaning.

Example:

- No answer (or answers) could be found.

- We want to go to the island but there’s no boat (or no boats) to take us.

4) NONE OF

We can use none of with a plural noun and the verb can be either singular or plural, although the singular form is usually more formal.

Example:

- None of the children were awake. (or …was awake.)

- None of the parcels have arrived yet. (or …has arrived yet.)

NOTE: However, when we use none with an uncountable noun the verb must be singular.

- None of the water was kept in the jar.

- None of the money has been transferred to the United States.

5) NO AMOUNT OF

If we want to give emphasis to no or none of we can use phrases like no amount of with uncountable nouns and not one (of) with singular countable nouns.

Example:

- She was so seriously ill that no amount of expensive treatment could cure her.

- It was clear that no amount of negotiation would bring the employers and workers closer together.

- Not one member of the History department attended the meeting.

- Not one of the hundreds of families affected by the noise wants to move.

EXERCISE 1

EXERCISE 2

EXERCISE 3

EXERCISE 4