nothing
‘nothing’
Nothing means ‘not a single thing’, or ‘not a single part of something’. You use a singular form of a verb with nothing.
Nothing is happening.
Nothing has been discussed.
Be careful
You don't usually use any other negative word such as ‘not’ after nothing. Don't say, for example, ‘Nothing didn’t happen'. You say ‘Nothing happened’. Similarly, don't use ‘nothing’ as the object of a sentence which already has a negative word in it. Don't say, for example, ‘I couldn’t hear nothing'. Say ‘I couldn’t hear anything.'
You don't usually use any other negative word such as ‘not’ after nothing. Don't say, for example, ‘Nothing didn’t happen'. You say ‘Nothing happened’. Similarly, don't use ‘nothing’ as the object of a sentence which already has a negative word in it. Don't say, for example, ‘I couldn’t hear nothing'. Say ‘I couldn’t hear anything.'
I did not say anything.
He never seemed to do anything at all.
‘nothing but’
Nothing but is used in front of a noun phrase or an infinitive without to to mean ‘only’. For example, instead of saying ‘In the fridge there was only a piece of cheese’, you can say ‘In the fridge there was nothing but a piece of cheese’.
For a few months I thought of nothing but Jeremy.
He did nothing but complain.