List N

afternoon, evening and night

Afternoon changes to evening when it starts getting dark, more or less.
However, it depends on the time of year.
In summer, we stop saying afternoon by six o’clock, even if it is still light.
In winter we go on saying afternoon until at least five o’clock, even if it is dark.

Evening changes to night more or less at bedtime.

Note that Good evening usually means ‘Hello’, and Good night means ‘Goodbye’
— it is never used to greet people.

  • A Good evening Terrible weather, isn’t it?
    B-Yes, dreadful.
  • A:Hasn’t stopped raining for weeks. Well. I must be going. Good night
    B Good night

no and not a/ not any

1. No is a determiner. We use no before singular (countable and uncountable) nouns and plural nouns.
No means the same as not a or not any, but we use no:

(a) at the beginning of a sentence
(b) when we want to make the negative idea emphatic.

a.

  • No cigarette is completely harmless. (NOT Not any cigarette…)
  • No beer? How do you expect me to sing without beer?
  • No tourists ever come to out village.

b.

  • I can’t get there. There’s no bus. (More emphatic than There isn’t a bus)
  • Sorry I can’t stop. I’ve got no time.
  • There were no letters for you this morning, I’m afraid.

2. Nobody, nothing, no-one and nowhere are used in similar ways to no.

Compare:

  • Nobody came. (NOT Not anybody came)
  • I saw nobody (More emphatic than I didn’t see anybody)

3. We only use no immediately before a noun. In other cases we use none (of).

    no and none

    1. We use no ( = ‘not a’, ‘not any’) immediately before a noun.

    no +noun

    • No aeroplane is 100% safe.
    • There’s no time to talk about it now

    Before another determiner (for example the, my, this), we use none of.
    We also use none of before a pronoun.

    none of + determiner + noun
    none of + pronoun

    • None of the keys would open the door.
    • None of my brothers remembered my birthday.
    • None of us speaks French.

    When we use none of with a plural noun, the verb can be singular (more formal) or plural (more informal)

    • None of my friends is/are interested

    2. We can use none alone without a noun.

    • How many of the books have you read. None.

    3. When we talking about two people or things, we use neither, not none

    • Neither of my parents could be there. (NOT none of….)

    next and the next

    Next week, next month etc is the week or month just after this one.
    If I am speaking in July, next month is August;
    If I am speaking in 1900, next year is 1900.
    (Note that prepositions are not used before these time-expressions)

    • Goodbye. See you next week.
    • I’m spending next Christmas with my family.
    • Next year will be difficult.

    The next week, the next month etc can mean the period of seven days, thirty days etc starting at the moment of speaking.
    On July 15th, 1985, the next month is period from July 15th to August 15th; the next year is the period from July 1985 to July 1986.

    • I’m going to be very busy for the next week (the seven days starting today)
    • The next year will be difficult. (= the twelve months starting now)

    next and nearest

    1. Nearest is used for place – it means ‘most near in space’

    • Excuse me. Where’s the nearest tube station?
      (not… the next tube station?)
    • If you want to find Alan, just look in the nearest in the pub.

    Next is usually used for time – it means ‘nearest in the future’

    • We get off at the next station (=the station that we will reach first)
    • I’m looking forward to her next visit.

    2. We use next in a few expressions to mean ‘nearest in space’.
    The most common are next door and next to.

    • My girl-friend lives next door.
    • Come and sit next to me.