Negative Pronouns are used to negate some statements.
Most of the indefinite pronouns correspond to negative pronouns:
| some | something | somebody, someone |
| no, none | nothing, none | nobody, no one, none |
Some defining pronouns also correspond to negative pronouns:
| everything | all, everybody, every, each | both, either |
| nothing | no, none, nobody | neither |
None
The negative pronounย noย is used only before a noun as its attribute.
Noย dreams were possible in Dufton, where the snow seemed to turn black almost before it hit the ground.ย (Braine)
Noย Forsyte can stand it for a minute.ย (Galsworthy)
None
The negative pronounย noneย may be applied both to human beings and things.
Noneย of us โย noneย of us can hold on forever! (Galsworthy)
โฆ he took the letters from the gilt wire cage into which they had been thrust through the slit in the door.ย Noneย from Irene. (Galsworthy)
It can be used as a subject or object.
In this he would make little fires, and cook the birds he had not shot with his gun, hunting in the coppice and fields, or the fish he did not catch in the pond because there wereย none. (Galsworthy) (SUBJECT)
โฆbesides, it required woods and animals, of which he hadย noneย in his nursery except his two catsโฆ (Galsworthy) (OBJECT)
Nothing
The negative pronounsย nobody, no oneย refer to human beings. They correspond to the indefinite pronounsย somebody, someone,ย and to the defining pronounsย all, every, each, everybody.
The negative pronounย nobodyย may be used in the genitive case:ย nobodyโs.
The negative pronounsย nobodyย andย no oneย are mostly used as subjects and objects.
Nobodyย seemed to know him well. (Galsworthy) (SUBJECT)
He remembered the days of his desperate starvation whenย no oneย invited him to dinner. (London) (SUBJECT)
I told you once that I haveย no oneย in the world but you. (Voynich) (OBJECT)
Weโd haveย nobodyย to fight the war. (Heym) (OBJECT)
The pronounย nobodyย in the genitive case is used as an attribute.
Now Mr. Pullet never rode anything taller than a low pony, and was the least predatory of men, considering fire-arms dangerous, as apt to go off themselves byย nobodyโsย particular desire. (Eliot)
The pronounsย nobody, no oneย preceded by a preposition are used as prepositional indirect objects.
Among all the crowd who came and went here, there and everywhere, she cared for nobody. (Galsworthy)
Nothing
The negative pronounย nothingย refers to things. It is opposite to the indefinite pronounย somethingย and to the defining pronounย everything.
Andย nothingย of vital importance had happened after that till the year turned.(Galsworthy)
Nothingย may be used as a subject, predicative, or object.
There isย nothingย to worry about. (Galsworthy) (SUBJECT)
โNow, look here, Marian, this isย nothingย but nonsense,โ Martin began.(London) (PREDICATIVE)
โฆshe broughtย nothingย with her but the feeling of adventure. (Galsworthy) (OBJECT)
When preceded by a prepositionย nothingย may be used as a prepositional indirect object:
On that train he thoughtย of nothingย but Lilly. (Wilson)
Neither
The negative pronounย neitherย is opposite to the defining pronounsย either, both.
Neitherย of them answered; but their faces seemed to him as if contemptuous.(Galsworthy)
In the sentence, it may be used as the subject, object, and attribute.
Neither was wise enough to be sure of the working of the mind of the other.(Dreiser) (SUBJECT)
I like neither of them. (OBJECT)
We approved neither plan. (ATTRIBUTE)
The negative pronounsย nobody, no one, nothingย are singular in meaning and when they are used as the subject of the sentence they require a verb in the singular (see the above examples)
