Any, no, none: Quantifiers

No, any, none: Grammar chart

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No/any + noun

We use no + noun in sentences with a positive verb, and we use any + noun in negatives and questions. No= not a or not any

• I have no friends.
• I don’t have any friends. 
• Do you have any friends?

Any without noun

We can also use any as a pronoun, i.e. not followed by a noun.

• ‘Is there any milk left?’ ‘No, there isn’t any.’

Any in affirmative sentences

We can also use any in affirmative sentences when it means ‘one or some, but it is not important which’.

• You can come any weekend. (=One weekend; it doesn’t matter which)
• Any idiot would know how to use this phone.

None

We use none as a pronoun, i.e. not followed by a noun. We use none to replace countable or uncountable nouns.

• ‘How many friends do you have?’ ‘None.’
• I thought there was some coffee, but there’s none.’

We can also use none of the/my/Tom’s/etc. + noun or none of + us/you/them.

• None of my students is/are from France.
• None of them is/are from France.

🔍 Note that when None of … is the subject of a sentence, we can use the verb in singular (more formal) or plural form (more informal).

Nothing/anything, nobody/anybody, nowhere/anywhere

We use nothing, nobody, and nowhere with positive verbs and anything, anybody, and anywhere in negative sentences and questions. Nothing, nobody, nowhere = not anything, not anybody, not anywhere

• There’s nothing that we can do. (=There isn’t anything that we can do.)
• Have you seen John anywhere?
• We saw nobody. (=We didn’t see anybody)
• Nothing happened. 

Anything, anybody, anywhere in affirmative sentences

We can use anything/anybody/anywhere in affirmative sentences to mean ‘it doesn’t matter what/who/where.’

• We can do anything. (=It doesn’t matter what.)
• Anybody in the school could help us. (=It doesn’t matter who.)
• We can go anywhere. (=It doesn’t matter where.)