[sanctus]

It is a long time I ask myself how "no one" is spelled.

For example if nobody goes skiing and I ask "who goes skiing?" someone can answer "no one" .
Is this right spelled, because all the other words of the form *one are one word (like anyone, someone, etc.), but "noone" would look strange and "none" means something else...

Thanks for anyone clearing this up.

[InfiniteNow]

Originally Posted by sanctus

It is a long time I ask myself how "no one" is spelled.

For example if nobody goes skiing and I ask "who goes skiing?" someone can answer "no one" .
Is this right spelled, because all the other words of the form *one are one word (like anyone, someone, etc.), but "noone" would look strange and "none" means something else...

Thanks for anyone clearing this up.

I've actually pondered this question myself. I never found out authoritatively, but here's the conclusion I reached.

For the reasons you listed above, it should be two words with a space in the midde. "Noone" looks differently and would be pronounced differently... Like the middle of the day when the little hand reaches the 12 ... "Noon." Additionally, as you mentioned, the word "none" has an entirely different meaning... as in the lack of something.

So, I concluded that 'No One' is the correct method. However, since I still lack certainty, I tend to say "nobody" instead.


Cheers.

[REASON]

INow is correct.

The propoer usage is no one or no-one.

I have struggled with this before as well.

[Turtle]

No-one knows where no one goes. As if that isn't difficult enough, how does one form the possessive case of no-one?

Do we write: No-one's ability met the criteria?
or do we write: No-ones' abilitiy met the criteria?

Or do we dodge the issue altogether and write: No-one met the criteria?

It takes one, to no one.

[REASON]

Originally Posted by Turtle

Or do we dodge the issue altogether and write: No-one met the criteria?

No one nos if everyone knows!

[sanctus]

thanks for clearing it up and funny that even people with english as a mother-language have to ponder this

Actually Turtle I think I know the answer to your question it should be no-one's ability met the criteria. This because no-one can be seen (I think) always as singular even if possibly referring to a crowd of people.
Cool I never thought of it this way, it gives the opportunity to make funny sentence like:

my parent's car is parked in front of my parents' house.

(for saying that for example my uncle parked his car in front of my parents' house)

[Turtle]

[quote=sanctus;206193]thanks for clearing it up and funny that even people with english as a mother-language have to ponder this

Actually Turtle I think I know the answer to your question it should be no-one's ability met the criteria. This because no-one can be seen (I think) always as singular even if possibly referring to a crowd of people. ...[quote]

I find your interest...well, interesting, inasmuch as English is not your mother-language. I agree that it should be no-one's just as you say. This factoid belongs in everyone's tool-kit.

every - definition of every by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

Originally Posted by freedictionary

... The effort to adhere to the grammatical rule causes complications, however. The first is grammatical. When a pronoun refers to a phrase containing every or any that falls within a different independent clause, the pronoun cannot be singular. Thus it is not idiomatic to say Every man left; he took his raincoat with him. Nor can one say No one could be seen, could he? Writers unwilling to use plural forms in these examples must find another way of expressing their meaning, either by rephrasing the sentence so as to get the pronoun into the same clause (as in Every man left, taking his raincoat with him) or by substituting another word for every or any (as in All the men left; they took their raincoats with them. ...