Editor's Corner

Dear Editrix,

I was talking to someone today and got a little confused. When do I used nobody, and when do I use no one? And what about anybody and anyone? Please shed some light on this!

Excellent questions, my dear reader. Let’s start with the easier set of words: nobody and no one. Nobody and no one are singular pronouns, and they mean “not any person.” You can use them both the same way. Here are some examples:

• Nobody wanted to volunteer for cleanup duty.
• No one offered to walk Barnaby’s dog, Sasquatch, because Sasquatch is an out-of-control St. Bernard.
• Nobody knew the secret ingredient to Señor Kiki’s guacamole.

If you hear somebody say, “There’s no body in the casket!” well, that’s not a pronoun, that’s a disaster.

Now for anybody, anyone, and any one. These words represent different parts of speech, so I’ll go through them in two groups.

Anybody and anyone mean “any person.” They are both pronouns, just as nobody and no one are. They are also fairly interchangeable, as you can see in my examples:

• Pink Floyd asked, “Is there anybody out there?”
• The power was out when J Fuzz walked into the house and asked, “Is anyone home?” Mr. Kittles meowed, happy to see his dad’s outline in the dark.
• Do you know anyone who performs alterations? I need my ball gown sewn up.

Now for the standout: any one. Forget about pronouns, these two words together are referred to as an adjectival phrase. You cannot use this in place of anyone or anybody. Any one means “any single member of a group.” For example:

• Have any one of you ever eaten haggis? How about vegetarian haggis?
• Would any one of your grandparents like to go to Wonkaville with you?

And if that’s not enough, five years ago I put this together, with some similar topics: Everyone.

(It’s June gloom in San Diego, so I’m adding some summer here.)

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Knowledge Enablement

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

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