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….)