My wife turned on the wall switch and the pendant light over our dining room table went out. The fuse outside didn’t blow—none of them needed to be reset. I checked for power in the light’s hanging cord, but nothing. I pulled the wall switch to check for power and nothing there either. Thoughts?
Start looking for tripped GFCI outlets.
If there is no power to the switch and the breaker didn’t trip there is likely a switch with GFCI on the mix.
Another possibility could be a bad breaker (assuming you don’t have actual fuses), check this by flipping the breaker off and back on. This could also help to identify other lights/outlets on the circuit. If there is a wiring problem, knowing what other devices are on the circuit could help you track the problem.
While not impossible, it is unlikely that a wire has been severed. It is possible that a wire came loose at another outlet or fixture in the circuit.
If there was a true short, the breaker would be tripped out fuse blown and it would continue to trip.
Problem exists between breaker and wall switch.