A Dictionary of Cont..

IlO 320
no man and no men. A singular noun qualified
by no requires a singular verb, as in no man
knows, and a plural noun a plural verb, as in
no birds sing. The adjective no cannot be used
alone as a noun or pronoun; the form for this
is none.
As a rule, the adjective no makes an entire
statement negative. That is, no great man would
say that is equivalent to a great man would not
say that. For this reason, a noun can often be
qualified by no when what is meant is the verb
qualified by not, as in I was troubled by no
doubt and you need have no fear. But this is
not always true. No little usually means much
and no few, many, as in it added no little to
his happiness and tender dreams, no few of
which have since been realized.
No may be used as an adverb to qualify
other, diRerent, and the comparative forms of
adjectives and adverbs, as in if is no different
and Z will waif no longer. (The rest of this paragraph
involves some hair-splitting. It should not
be read except by those who enjoy this sort of
thing.) Some grammarians feel that no is also
used as an adverb with the positive form of
certain adjectives, as in at no inconsiderable
yearly loss. Here, if no qualifies only the word
that -immediately follows, that is, inconsiderable.
it is an adverb. If it aualifies all the words
that’ follow, including the noun, that is, if it
qualifies inconsiderable yearly loss, it is an adjective.
To say which of these interpretations is
the better one requires a subtle feeling for the
meaning of words. But anyone who can see the
problem has a right to his own conclusions. If
no is an adverb here it may be preceded by a
definitive word, as in at the no inconsiderable
or at my no inconsiderable. If it is an adjective
it cannot be used after a word of this kind
because no is itself a definitive. Some grammarians
say that no is here an adjective and
that therefore the construction with the, my, or
any other definitive word, is ungrammatical.
Others say that the fact that this construction
is used proves that no is here an adverb.
No may be used to answer a question, as in
Did you hear that? No.: or to introduce a negative
statement, as in No, Z don’t. In these uses
of the word, no is interpreted as an adverb
aualifvinr a verb. This adverbial no may be
.