Using an uncountable noun and 'none'?

Question

Today I came across the following sentence:> We asked for help and were given none.It feels and sounds right to me. However, after decomposing _none_ into _not one_, it becomes apparent that you can't have _one help_ in this context. So is _none_ the right word to use originally?If so, what does that say for the _none = not one_ equivalence? If not, then what is a better way to phrase it?

Answer 1

Your confusion is understandable. Some words work for both countable and uncountable nouns, like "more" or "some". None works the same way. However, if you change it "none" to "not one" then you've made your qualifier a cardinal number: one, and therefore, not suitable for use with uncountable nouns.