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Azz Posted 22 years ago
Grammar

Somebody

Are both of the second sentences acceptable:

You are seeing somebody.
No, that's not true. I am not seeing somebody.


You are seeing somebody.
No, that's not true. I am not seeing anybody.

They are supposed to mean the same thing, ie. "somebody" does not mean "you-know-who".
  

Top answer

Seems I read your second "somebody" posting first. Sorry about that. See there for more comments.

— Bratannia

  • Seems I read your second "somebody" posting first.
  • Sorry about that.
  • See there for more comments.
  • In this case, only the second sentence with "anyone" in it would normally be used.
  • It is considered the correct response.
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3 Answers
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Seems I read your second "somebody" posting first. Sorry about that. See there for more comments.

In this case, only the second sentence with "anyone" in it would normally be used. It is considered the correct response.

If you used the first, it would sound defiant; you would be considered to be parroting the question words back in the face of the questioner. "No, I am
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Anybody would be more common, although if you're trying to make a joke or depending on the context somebody could also be appropriate.
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This seems to be more difficult than I thought. Actually, I thought one would use "anybody" if one wanted to be defiant. "No, I am not seeing ANYBODY." and even if one wanted to joke about it. I think using this properly needs a kind of knack that non-native speakers like me lack.
Can you think of other contexts where this somebody might be used?
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