Nothing vs. Not Anything

any anything indefinite pronouns negative pro-forms no non-assertive pro-forms nothing

What's the Main Difference between 'Nothing' and 'Anything'?

The main difference between 'nothing' and 'anything' is that 'nothing' is a negative marker, but 'anything' is not.
is that the first sentence can be used more emphatically. It puts emphasis on the absolute absence of a thing. It actually sounds stronger for most people. It begins with an affirmative "I have" and then proceeds to the absolute "nothing".

Let's consider these two sentences:

I have nothing left to do.

I do not have anything left to do.

As you can see, one of the sentences has an affirmative verb and one a negative verb.
Notice that, 'nothing' as a pronoun is in the negative form, so the verb must be in the affirmative form. Otherwise, there'll be a case of double negative which is a big mistake in standard English.

When we want to refer to the absence of a thing, the common construction is 'not ... anything'.
The verb is then in the negative form because otherwise, we have a case of a double negative.

When you need to build a sentence using a negative pronoun at the beginning of a clause, you then have to use: NOTHING. Therefore, the emphasis will be on the negative form.

Nothing can be done here.

In conclusion, the difference between sentences like:

I have nothing.

I don't have anything.

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