[Grammar] 'It is not something to panic for'

[Cristina.W]

I used the sentence above in one of my compositions, and my English teacher said that I should have written 'It is not anything to panic for' because of the negation rule, but I don't think she's right. I was talking about a proper situation, not something general.
Can you please clarify this?

I also was wondering,
when you're talking about cooking, for instance, would you say 'it's not something I'm good at' or 'it's not anything I'm good at'?

 

[5jj]

I'd prefer 'It's not something to panic about'. The negation 'rule' is not a rule at all. You are right; 'something' is possible.

In your cooking example, I think 'something' is the more likely choice.

 

[hombre viejo]

*NOT A TEACHER" American English. Your question is asking whether "something" or "anything" is the better word to use. "Something" is a pronoun referring to a certain, although unspecified thing. "Anything" is a pronoun referring to anything, - not a certain thing, but something, no matter what. Because you are referring to "it" as the suject - I agree with you - not your teacher. "I can't see anything and "I (do) see something" are examples of correct usage."

Regarding your second question - I would choose "something" regardless of the negation. The reference is to something certain - cooking or 'It"

 

[BobK]

Nobody has mentioned 'nothing' yet. I use 'It's nothing to worry about' much more than 'It's not something to worry about'. I'd use 'something' only if there was much more to the sentence: 'It's not something that you should be worrying about at this stage.'

b