something  pron. 某物, 某事

anything  pron. 任何事物

nothing  pron. 無事, 無物

以上三字均為代名詞, 可代替物或事情; 代替物時, 可指衣服 (如本文)、桌子、手錶等任何具體的東西。使用時應注意下列事項:

a. 形容詞修飾一般名詞時, 通常置於該名詞前。但形容詞修飾something、anything、nothing等代名詞時, 該形容詞應置於這些代名詞之後, 這種結構稱為後位修飾。

例: He is a boy good. (╳)

　→ He is a good boy. (○)

　(他是好孩子。)

　I have good something for you. (╳)

　→ I have something good for you. (○)

　(我有好東西給你。)

　I can't find good anything at the store. (╳)

　→ I can't find anything good at the store. (○)

　(在那家商店我找不到任何好貨。)

 　There is wrong nothing with the sentence. (╳)

　→ There is nothing wrong with the sentence. (○)

　(這句子沒有什麼不對。)

b. something、anything、nothing無複數形。

例: I have somethings to do. (╳)

　→ I have something to do. (○)

　(我有事要做。)

c. something使用於肯定句中; anything使用於否定句及疑問句中; nothing本身具否定意味, 不可再與否定詞 (如not, no, never) 連用, 以免形成雙重否定。

1) something

例: I don't have something important to tell you. (╳, something不可用於否定句中)

　→ I have something important to tell you. (○, something 用於肯定句中)

　(我有重要的事要告訴你。)

2) anything

例: Do you have anything important to tell me? (○, anything 用於疑問句中)

　(你有任何重要的事要告訴我嗎？)

　I don't have anything important to tell  you. (○, anything 用於否定句中)

　(我沒有重要的事要告訴你。)

3) nothing

例: I don't have nothing important to tell you. (╳, nothing 已具否定意思, 故不得再與否定副詞not 並用, 否則形成錯誤的雙重否定)

　→ I have nothing important to tell you. (○)

  　= I don't have anything important to tell you.

　(我沒有重要的事要告訴你。)

Unfortunately, she doesn't have anything except casual clothes.

不幸的是, 她除了休閒裝以外, 沒別的衣服。

本句的except是介詞, 表示『除……之外』, 使用時要置於有 all (所有的), no (沒有一個), any (任何一個), every (每一個) 等涵蓋性完全的形容詞所修飾的名詞之後。

例: All the boys like music except John.

　(除了約翰以外，所有男孩都喜歡音樂。)

　He has nothing except money.

　(他除了錢以外，什麼都沒有。)

　He likes everybody except me.

　(他除了我以外，誰都喜歡；他喜歡每個人，就是不喜歡我。)

　I don't like anyone except Mary.

　(我除了瑪麗以外，誰都不喜歡。)

了解上述有關except的用法後, 我們就不可再造下列錯誤的句子:

例: Many boys are good except him. (╳, many表『許多』, 涵蓋性不全, 故不能與except並用)

　→ All the boys are good except him. (○)

　(除了他以外，所有男孩都很好。)

　I like some girls here except Mary. (╳, some表『一些』, 涵蓋性不全, 故不能與except並用)

　→ I like every girl here except Mary. (○)

  　= I like all the girls here except Mary.

　(除了瑪麗以外，這裡的女孩我都喜歡。)