No one,nobody,nothingandnowhereare indefinite pronouns.
We useno one, nobody, nothingandnowhereto refer to an absence of people, things or places. We use them with a singular verb:
Nobodyever goes to see her. She’s very lonely.
You usually have to wait for a long time.Nothinghappens quickly.
There wasnowhereto park the car.
We often use the plural pronountheyto refer back to (singular)no oneornobodywhen we do not know if the person is male or female:
No oneremembers the titles of the books they’ve read.
No oneornobody?
No oneandnobodymean the same.Nobodyis a little less formal thanno one. We useno onemore thannobodyin writing:
I knewnobodyat the party.
No onemoved;no onesaid anything.
We writeno oneas two separate words or with a hyphen:no oneorno-onebut notnoone.
Nobodyornot … anybody, etc.
Nobody, no one, nothing, nowhereare stronger and more definite thannot…anybody/anyone/anything/anywhere:
I didnothing.(stronger thanI didn’t do anything.)
She toldno one, not even her mother.(stronger thanShe didn’t tell anyone …)
We don’t usenot+anyone/anything/anywhereas the subject of a clause:
Nothingwill make me change my mind.
Not:Not anything will make me change my mind.
We don’t usenobody,no one, nothing, nowhereafterno,not,neveror other words which have a negative meaning (hardly,seldom). We useanyone, anybody, anything, anywhere:
I can’tdoanything.
Not:I can’t do nothing.
She talks tohardly anyone.
Not:She talks to hardly no one.
See also:
Anyone,anybodyoranything?
Double negatives and usage