======Something, anything, everything, nothing etc. ====== =====Introduction=====

Image    Don't tell anyone. 

=====Definition=====

Someone, somebody, something, anyone, anybody, anything, everyone, everybody, everything, no one, nobody, nothing are pronouns.

 

Somewhere, anywhere, everywhere and nowhere are adverbs.

 

=====Construction=====

There are lots of possibilities. Here are some examples:

 

 

Affirmative sentences

Negative sentences

Interrogative

 

Someone, somebody, something, somewhere

 

I met someone.

She went somewhere.

 

 

[rare]

 

Did you meet someone?

Did she go somewhere?

 

Anyone, anybody, anything, anywhere

 

 

[see notes on 'if' and affirmative sentences below]

 

 

I didn't meet anyone.

She didn't go anywhere.

 

Did you meet anyone?

Did she go anywhere?

 

Everyone, everybody, everything, everywhere

 

 

I met everyone.

I looked everywhere.

 

I didn't meet everyone.

I didn't look everywhere.

 

Did you meet everyone?

Did you look everywhere?

 

No one, nobody,

Nothing, nowhere

 

I met no one.

I went nowhere yesterday.

 

        

        Image

 

Did no one arrive on time?

Did nothing arrive in the post?

 

We can use anyone etc. after 'if' or the idea of 'if':

 

If anyone needs help, please ask.

Anything you can do to help will be useful. [if you can do anything]



=====Subject verb agreement=====

We use the 3rd person singular verb with all these pronouns. For example:

 

Someone is going to call me back.

Is anything wrong?

Everything looks great.

No one wants to go to the meeting.

           

 

=====Uses=====

The pronouns can be used as subjects or objects:

 

Anyone can come to the seminar.     I didn't see anyone I know at the seminar.

 

Note that:

 

1.    Someone = somebody

       anyone = anybody

       everyone  = everybody

       no one  = nobody

 

       There is no difference in meaning. They all refer to people and we can use 'one' or 'body'.

 

2.    No one is sometimes written as 'no-one'.

 

3.    Something, anything, everything and nothing refer to things.

 

4.    Somewhere, anywhere, everywhere and nowhere refer to places. 

 

5.     No one and nobody = 'not anyone' and 'not anybody'.

        Nothing = 'not anything'.

      

       'Not everyone' is not the same as 'not anyone'. For example:

 

I went to the seminar but I didn't speak to everyone. [I spoke to some people but not all.]

I went to the seminar but I didn't speak to anyone. [I spoke to no one.]

 

==========

You can ask anyone in this team for help - they're all experts. [it doesn't matter who.]

Can you get me a cold drink from the canteen? Anything will do. [it doesn't matter what.]

I don't mind where we go tonight. Anywhere will be better than staying at home. [it doesn't matter where.]  

 

====='Everyone' or 'every one'?=====

We only use everyone to talk about people and 'every one' to talk about people or things. 'Every one' is different because there is more emphasis on each or every individual person or thing in a group, whereas everyone is more general and refers to a group.  

 

Everyone who organised the conference did a great job. [the group]

 We need to thank every one of them. [each individual]

 

I made hundreds of sandwiches but the delegates managed to eat every one.

.

 


====='No one', etc. or 'not anyone', etc.=====

These have the same meaning but 'not' + anyone, anybody, anything and anywhere are more commonly used. No one, nobody, nothing and nowhere are considered more emphatic:

 

Neutral

Emphatic

 

There isn't anything I can do to help.

 

I don't know anyone in that company.

 

I haven't been anywhere interesting recently.

 

There's nothing I can do to help.

 

I know no one in that company.

 

I've been nowhere interesting recently.

 


=====With 'they' and 'them'=====

Although the pronouns take singular verbs, we sometimes use 'they', 'them', 'their' and 'theirs' rather than 'he', 'she', 'him', 'her', 'his', and 'hers' with those relating to people. For example:

 

Someone gave me their ticket so I can go to the concert.

If anyone understands this, can they explain it to me, please?

Everyone needs to understand their responsibilities.

No one has finished writing theirs yet.

 

We often do this when we don't want to specify a gender. It is much better than using 'he or she' or 's/he', for example.


=====Negative subjects=====

'Not anyone' etc. isn't usually used at the beginning of a sentence or clause:

 

Not anyone has to work at weekends. Image

Not anything was provided.  Image

We looked for a hotel but not anywhere in the city was suitable.   Image

 

 

Instead, we use no one or nothing or nowhere:

 

No one has to work at weekends.

Nothing was provided.

We looked for a hotel but nowhere in the city was suitable.

 

 

However, we can use 'not everyone'.

 

Not everyone is happy about the new rules.

I tried to explain that not everything about this job is easy.


=====Negative sentences=====

The pronouns beginning with 'any' can be used in affirmative sentences which include a word with a negative or restrictive meaning:

 

We rarely invite anyone here in the winter - the roads are too dangerous.

It's unlikely that we'll receive anything before the end of the week.

We failed to find anywhere that was suitable for the conference.

 

 

We also use it in clauses beginning with 'before': 

 

Let's deal with it now before anyone complains.

Before buying anything for the new office, we should decide exactly what we need.

 

 


We do not usually use someone etc. in negative sentences:

 

I don't know someone there.  Image 

I don't know anyone there.   Image     I know no one there.     Image       

 

However, it is possible if, for example, the person is unknown or we avoid naming the person or we are being ironic:

 

     Someone didn't remember to lock the door last night.

           

Or with 'something':     Something isn't right here.    I didn't do something wrong.



=====Intensifiers=====

We use intensifiers to give extra information. Here are some examples:

 

 

No one, nothing, nowhere

Anyone, anything, anywhere

Everyone, everything, everywhere

 

'almost', 'virtually'

 

With anyone etc., The meaning is 'it doesn't matter who/which/where'

 

 

 

I saw almost no one I know.

 

There's virtually nothing in this report that's useful.

 

There's almost nowhere I wouldn't go for a holiday.

 

 

She enjoys talking to virtually anyone.

 

I don't mind where we eat - I'll be happy almost anywhere.

 

I told virtually everyone.

 

 

We ate almost everything.

 

I've got contacts virtually everywhere in Eastern Europe.

 

 

'nearly'

 

The same meaning as above

 

Image

 

Image


Nearly everyone replied to the invitation.

 

I looked nearly everywhere for my keys.

 

 

'hardly'

 

To talk about very small quantities and amounts. The meaning is similar to 'almost none' or very few/little'

 

Image


Hardly anyone I know speaks fluent French.

 

It's so boring in this town - there's hardly anything to do in the evenings. 


 

 

Image

 

'absolutely'

 

To be emphatic

 

I knew absolutely no one at the seminar.

 

I'm so hungry; I could eat absolutely anything right now.

 

I looked absolutely everywhere for my keys but couldn't find them.

 

 

=====Examples=====

Image   We talked to someone who gave us some good advice. 

Image   "Do we have everything we need?"   "I think so. Nothing seems to be missing."

Image    If anyone has any good ideas, this would be a good time to tell me. 

Image  I prepared all the food myself, without anyone to help.

Image   Have you seen my keys? I can't find them anywhere.

Image   Not everybody takes a suitcase - some people just have hand luggage. 

Image    There's absolutely nowhere I'd rather be right now!   


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