None or Nothing in Particular

Question

"Are you looking for something in particular?""There is none/nothing in particular, actually."Suppose that that something that the person is asking could be a guitar because he is a guitar dealer, which would be correct above?  'None' or 'nothing'?  Why? Thank you in advance.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

I wouldn't say 'none' is wrong, but only 'nothing' sounds natural and idiomatic to my ear.

Broadly speaking, the usual pairings would be any / none, something / nothing.

Clive

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you, Clive, for your helpful response.

I see in this case, we cannot use 'none' although 'guitar' is countable since 'none', as I understand it, is normally use for countable and 'nothing' is for uncountable noun. Please confirm.

Can we also say 'not really' as an answer to the question to mean a less stronger 'no'?

Clive · Answer

Hi,

Are you looking for something in particular?"

"There is none/nothing in particular, actually."

Suppose that that something that the person is asking could be a guitar because he is a guitar dealer, which would be correct above? 'None' or 'nothing'? Why?

I see in this case, we cannot use 'none' although 'guitar' is countable since 'none', as I understand it, is normally use for countable and 'nothing' is for uncountable noun. Please confirm. Yes, 'nothing' is the appropriate response. 'None' is pretty idiomatic. It tends to require a context of specific things, in which you can say or understand 'none of these'. It doesn't work in your example, becayuse ''something' does not set such a specific context.. 'None would sound a bit better if the first speaker had said, more specifically, 'Are you looking for some guitar in particular?'

Can we also say 'not really' as an answer to the question to mean a less stronger 'no'? Yes

Clive

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you, Clive.  Your explanations were very helpful.  This makes sense to me now.

None or Nothing in Particular

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