Somebody, anybody, nobody, everybody 71 (chapter 2)

Anybody, anyone, anything, anywhere

These words are used in questions and negative sentences, to refer to a person, thing or place, without identifying which person, thing or place.

anybody / anyone: an unidentified person
anything: an unidentified thing
anywhere: an unidentified place

Are you seeing anybody else?
I've just moved to a new town, and I don't know anyone.
I haven't had anything to eat since I arrived.

'any-' words are also used to express conditions:

...'You can park anywhere' = 'if you need a place to park, use one of these spaces.'
...'It's easy to find. Ask anyone' = 'if you can't find it, ask someone: everybody knows where it is.'

Nobody, no-one, nothing, nowhere

These words are used in positive sentences, but they have negative meanings: they refer to an absence of people, things or place. No-one is written with a hyphen between the two 'o's.

Nobody knows where it is.
No-one came to the party.
He says he knows nothing about the crime.
They are homeless. They have nowhere to live.

Everybody, everyone, everything, everywhere.

These words are used to refer to all people, things or places. Everybody and everyone have the same meaning.

Everybody likes chocolate.
Everything closes at the end of the holiday season.
We need to tidy up. There's rubbish everywhere.


Vocabulary

to confess:
to tell somebody that you have done something that you think is bad, or that you feel guilty about

1- to admit that you have done something wrong or something that you feel guilty or bad about:

[+ that] : She confessed to her husband that she had sold her wedding ring.
He confessed to sleeping/having slept through most of the film.
He has confessed to the murder.
[+ (that)] : I have to confess (that), when I first met your husband, I didn't think he was very bright.
I found it all very confusing, I must confess.
[R] The director confessed himself (to be) puzzled by the company's losses.

2 in the Christian religion, especially the Roman Catholic Church, to tell God or a priest what you have done wrong so that you can be forgiven:
...to confess your sins

to be seeing somebody:
to be having a romantic relationship

what’s going on? : what's happening