there were no attendees

USAGE SUMMARY

The phrase "there were no attendees" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it to indicate that no one showed up for an event or meeting. Example: "Despite the extensive marketing efforts, there were no attendees at the seminar."

✓ Grammatically correct

News & Media

Science

Human-verified similar examples from authoritative sources

Similar Expressions

58 human-written examples

There were no dissenters, several attendees recalled.

The New York Times

In its August 30 , 1969 Comment on the event, The New Yorker quoted an unnamed college student, who rebuked the Times for assuming the worst of the attendees: There were no fights, no hassles, no pushing, no stealing.

The New Yorker

There were no significant differences between focus group attendees and survey-only participants on our variables of interest.

Diabetes Care

There was no evidence that attendees and non-attendees differed in their distribution of lifestyle risk factors or existing health conditions, however our sample was too small to allow that sort of comparison or indeed to explore gender differences.

BMC Family Practice

There are no metal detectors, attendees often show up in masks, and swords and scythes are commonplace.

The New York Times - Arts

There is no question, among attendees and our staff, that the Open Source Science Fair was the breakout event of the year — which is saying something, considering how successful the rest of our events were.

The New York Times

There was no disagreement among attendees that Africa needs, even requires a sustainable future.

Huffington Post

Next, sampling bias may have favoured those with strong compliments or complaints that they wished to share with Symposium organizers, particularly in the self-administered survey, for which there was no mechanism to prevent attendees from completing the survey more than once.

Health Policy and Planning

Mr. Colbert's aim wasn't to please the attendees; there was no trace of anxiety when a "zinger" was received in silence.

The New York Times

Unfortunately, because of the method of distribution there was no information about education session attendees and no further way to assess response bias.

BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders

There was no question among the course attendees that ensuring access of the poor to these products is a daunting task.

Health Research Policy and Systems

Expert writing Tips

Best practice

Use "there were no attendees" to clearly and directly state the absence of people at a specific event or location. It avoids ambiguity and is easily understood.

Common error

Avoid using "there were no attendees" when a more active and direct sentence would be clearer. For example, instead of "Because /s/of+the+storm there were no attendees", consider "The storm caused everyone to cancel".

Linguistic Context

The phrase "there were no attendees" functions as an existential clause expressing the absence of people at a particular event or location. Ludwig confirms that this phrase is grammatically correct and usable in written English. It states a simple fact about the lack of attendance.

Expression frequency: Uncommon

Frequent in

News & Media

48%

Science

38%

Formal & Business

14%

Less common in

Academia

0%

Encyclopedias

0%

Wiki

0%

Ludwig's WRAP-UP

In summary, the phrase "there were no attendees" is a grammatically correct and usable expression for stating the absence of people at an event or location. Ludwig's AI indicates its correctness for use in written English. While relatively uncommon, it appears most frequently in News & Media and Science contexts. For more formal settings, consider alternatives like "attendance was zero". When writing, avoid confusing the phrase with passive voice constructions. By using this phrase thoughtfully, you can clearly and directly convey the absence of participants.

More alternative expressions

Phrases that express similar concepts, ordered by semantic similarity:

nobody attended

Simple rephrasing using the verb 'attended' with 'nobody' as the subject.

no one showed up

Replaces 'attendees' with a more informal expression 'showed up'.

no participants were present

Replaces 'attendees' with 'participants' and uses 'were present'.

attendance was zero

Uses a more formal, quantitative way to express the lack of attendees.

there was zero attendance

Similar to "attendance was zero" but with a slightly different emphasis.

the event was unattended

Changes the structure to focus on the event being unattended.

there wasn't any attendance

Uses a more verbose way to say "there was no attendance".

no persons present

A more formal and somewhat archaic way of saying no one was there.

the gathering was deserted

Implies a planned gathering that ended up having no attendees.

the room was empty

Describes the physical space being empty, implying no attendees.

FAQs

How can I use "there were no attendees" in a sentence?

You can use "there were no attendees" to indicate that an event, meeting, or gathering had no one present. For example, "Despite the advertising campaign, there were no attendees at the opening night."

What is a more formal alternative to "there were no attendees"?

A more formal alternative could be "attendance was zero" or "no participants were present". These options are suitable for reports or official communications.

What's the difference between "there were no attendees" and "nobody attended"?

While both phrases mean the same thing, "there were no attendees" is slightly more descriptive, emphasizing the absence of a group. "/s/Nobody+attended" is more direct and focuses on the action of attending.

Is "there was no attendees" grammatically correct?

No, "there was no attendees" is grammatically incorrect. The correct form is "there were no attendees" because "attendees" is plural, requiring the plural form of the verb "to be".