Help me to see the difference

Question

What is the difference for the four sentences below?

There aren't any cats there.

There isn't any cat there.

There are no cats there.

There is no cat there.

Also, am I writing the underlined sentence properly?

Ckwek · Accepted Answer

I guess:

What is the difference between the following sentences?

What is the difference between these four sentences?

CK

BarbaraPA · Answer

Purists will tell you to use "between" when there are only two choices, and "among" when there are more than two, but you will be understood quite readily if you use "between."

Anyway, in answer to your question: Not much, but it depends how you are using them. In the plural, you're just saying that cats are at not in this place, in general. In the singular, it's more like a resonse to an inquiry or statement about a specific cat.

"I didn't like visiting my friend in the city. There are no cats there." That's a statement of fact. Also, "there aren't any cats there" works just as well. But "there is no cat there" would not work in that context. On the other hand, if friend is saying something like "Look! Look at that cat overe there!" and you turn to look but see no cat, you would say "There is no cat there."

Ckwek · Answer

Thanks!

I should wrote in this way:

What is the difference among the following sentences?

What is the difference among these four sentences?

Hahaha...

Cheers

CK

Believer · Answer

Thank you very much.

In your response, there was a phrase "in answer to your question." Should it be "in an answer to your question"? or "in answers to your question"?

Sorry for looking too picky.

BarbaraPA · Answer

No, it's good to be picky, but in this case, it was right.

In response to your memo

In answer to your question

With that construction, no article needed.

Believer · Answer

Hi GG,

Thank you.

You said that sentences "I didn't like visiting my friend in the city. There are no cats there" are one that of a statement of fact and to that, I agree with your assessment, but, I think, when it comes to listing the sentences/expressions that will work just as well as its replacements, they could include the sentence "There is no cat there" in addition to the sentencee "There aren't any cats there."

To me, the two sentences "there is no cat there" and "there aren't any cats there" will meaning just about the same thing under this set context.

BarbaraPA · Answer

Well, my example was rather silly. Of course there are cats in cities. So it makes my whole example a little off-base.

But anyway, if I meant that my friend doesn't have a cat, and I a day just isn't a good day without a cat on my lap at some point, it would be far more natural to say "I didn't like visiting Meg. She doesn't have a cat." You will have a difficult time finding a native speaker who would say "There is no cat there" to refer to a general cat-free situation, as opposed to a response to a specific statement, as I gave in my other examples.

As a statement of LOGIC, they are probably identical. But as natural sounding conversation, the singular "no cat" isn't a common general statement of fact.

Help me to see the difference

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