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I have no brothers

hirashin

Sempai
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8 Apr 2004
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Dear native English speakers,
Would all of these be used interchangeably? If not, what's the difference between each?
(a) I don't have a brother.
(b) I don't have any brothers.
(c) I have no brother.
(d) I have no brothers.

Thanks in advance.
Hirashin
 
Yes, more or less.

The plural versions sound like a general statement. The singular versions sound like they are within a conversation in response to some mistaken reference to your brother.
 
I don't like C that much, because it's very similar to "I have zero brother", which would be incorrect. To clarify, C itself isn't incorrect, I just don't like it because of the similarity.
 
Thanks for the help, mdchachi, Julimaruchan, OoTmaster, and johnnyG.
In the link of johnnyG, she seems to sing like "I have no mother, no father, no sister, no brother. I am an orphan girl." Is that because it is a part of lyrics?
 
If you're asking whether the word choice was poetic in nature, then yes, as always in any halfway decent song. ;) No one would actually talk like that in real life.
 
Hello Hirashin, it may be a bit late to say now but I think people missed 'interchangeable' on your post.
In that case:
(a) is the same as (c) and you can use either,
(b) is the same as (d) and you can use either,
all a b c and d are correct in grammar but a and b are more common.
The difference for a/c and b/d:
a/c are single for when you have one thing, (brother)
b/d are for when you have more than one thing. (brothers)
I know in Japanese you do not need to say if something is plural or not but you do in English, normally by putting an 's' at the end of a noun. (brother -> brothers)
I hope I understood your question and was able to help!
 
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