No for none

[Miss Mae]

I heard an artist in a Filipino soap opera answered "no" when she had really meant "none" to a question raised by her fellow artist in the televised serial
the other day. I would have just shrugged that off but then I remember another incident like that involving a politician and a newscaster weeks ago. Can something still be done so that users of English would not confuse "no" for "none" anymore, Sir?

[Joe Carillo]

Sorry for overlooking this question of yours, Miss Mae. I was overly tied up with an extremely urgent editing project.

Can "no" be used for "none"? It really depends on how the question is formed, structured, or enunciated. for instance, if the question is "Did anyone come to visit yesterday?", the answer could be "No, sir", "None, sir", or "No one, sir" and I think all of them would be acceptable. The idiom can vary from place and there's really no point in insisting on "none" when it has already been accepted by the group or community to alternatively use "no" or "no one" for those situations.

[Miss Mae]

I see. I just thought that being able to discern such simple differences may help non-native English users to appreciate the language more.