When reading a passage in VOA English, I found a sentence:
The process is no easy task.
It comes to me another sentence:
The process is not an easy task.
What's the difference between them?
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They are 99% synonyms.– SovereignSunCommented Apr 14, 2017 at 7:43
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According to the website Difference between no and not, I think the first sentence means: The process is not any easy task. "an" and "any" is the difference.– JesseCommented Apr 14, 2017 at 9:57
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This applies only to nouns. Like in: No task is easy.– SovereignSunCommented Apr 14, 2017 at 10:03
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In dictionary, I found no can be a determine which means not one; not a; not any, so they are same.– JesseCommented Apr 14, 2017 at 11:26
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2 Answers
No easy thing and no easy matter as Merriam-Webster states mean: something that is not easy to do or bear.
Dictionary.Com explains this definition as not a (used before an adjective to convey the opposite of the adjective's meaning)
- His recovery was no small miracle.
No can also be followed by comparative adjectives and adverbs:
- No fewer than forty men.
- No more quickly than before.
According to this knowledge we can assume that "no easy task" equals "not an easy task".
answered Apr 14, 2017 at 10:01
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According to the website Difference between no and not, I think the first sentence means: The process is not any easy task. "an" and "any" is the difference.– JesseCommented Apr 14, 2017 at 10:02
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In dictionary, I found no can be a determine which means not one; not a; not any, so they are same.– JesseCommented Apr 14, 2017 at 11:26
I am not an English native speaker.
I would just say that there's no difference in the meaning, that is: There's nothing simple in this process.
So, I agree with @SovereignSun. The sentences are the same and they could be intended as synonyms.
