Let's take a look at a couple of words that are often confused by English learners, alone and lonely.
If you are sitting in a room and there are no other people in the room, you are alone. Alone simply means without other people.
"I used to live with my parents, now I live alone."
If you are sad because you have no one to talk too, you are lonely. You are unhappy because you are not with other people. Lonely is an adjective, loneliness is the nouns form.
"He was lonely when his wife went away on a business trip."
"Loneliness can be a problem among the elderly"
Lonely has a negative meaning. Alone is not negative or positive.
You can be alone without being lonely, and you can be lonely without being alone. Compare:
"I was alone on the beach all day. It was great; it felt like I had my own private beach."
"I felt lonely on my first at my new school because I did not know anyone and no one played with me."
