Negative modifier to a noun

There is one other negator in English. The form no may directly modify a noun, in place of a number or qualifier. One can say no houses, in paradigmatic array with one house, two houses, many houses, some houses, all houses, etc.

It was pointed out that when some is negated by sentential not we get not (A) . . . any2. An alternative is to replace the NP modifier any2 (of the) by no and omit the not from position A. Thus, in place of He might not have seen any2 (of the) boys, in (93n-s), one could say He might have seen no boys. And similarly I can distinguish no colors (at all), as an alterative to (97), I can’t distinguish any2 colors (at all). Instead of He doesn’t do any2thing (at all), in (100n-s), one can say He does nothing (at all). Note, though, that nothing may only substitute for any2thing, not for any1thing, in a sentence like (101n-s).

It is interesting to investigate the acceptability of the not . . . any2 and no alternations with different verbs. Compare:

(109a) He didn’t ask for anything

(109b) He asked for nothing

(110a) He didn’t request anything

(110b) (*)He requested nothing

(111a) He didn’t give anything

(111b) He gave nothing to the appeal to the appeal

(112a) He didn’t donate anything

(112b) (*)He donated nothing to the hospital to the hospital

The not . . . any2 construction, in (a), is acceptable with all verbs. But whereas the no construction, in (b), is fine with ask for and give, it is less felicitous with request and donate. The generalization—based on these and other examples—is that the no construction, in (b), is more acceptable for a commonly occurring verb with a wide general meaning (such as ask for and give) and less acceptable for a less common verb with a more specialized meaning (such as request and donate).

Just as nothing relates to something, so does no one to someone, nobody to somebody—as in (91)—and nowhere to somewhere—as in (90). And none of is the negation for some of. One can say He might have seen none of the boys, instead of He might not have seen any of the boys, in (92n-s).

We noted that the active sentence No one has yet climbed that tall mountain has as its passive That tall mountain hasn’t yet been climbed (by anyone). For the active, the negator is in the (obligatory) subject NP no one (which is underlyingly not plus anyone); in the passive, this goes into a by-phrase, which can be omitted. As a consequence the negator moves onto an obligatory constituent, the predicate.

There are additional negative elements in English grammar. For example, the preposition without is equivalent to with no. Instead of languages without a consecutive tense one can say languages with no consecutive tense.