The words some and any are used for countable and uncountable nouns. In general, we could say that some means a few / a little and any means nonein negative clauses or a few / a little in questions.
In positive clauses, we usually use some.
In negative clauses, we use any. Note, however, that any alone is not a negative - it must be not ... any
In questions, we usually use any.
Some & any can also be part of compound words such as:
Note that some & any have to be used with a noun while compound words with some & any can stand on their own.
However, some and any need not stand directly before the noun. Sometimes, the noun appears somewhere before some or any and is not repeated. So if you are not sure whether to use some or something for example, check if there is a noun in the sentence that you can place after some.
We usually use some in positive clauses. But after never, without, hardly, we use any.
Also in if clauses, we usually use any.
We usually use any in questions. But if we expect or want the other to answer ‚yes‘, we use some.
→ some people have brothers or sisters, others don't - we cannot expect the answer to be ‚yes‘
→ we offer something and want to encourage the other to say ‚ja‘
Comment
© 2024 Created by Zomi Community Network. Powered by
You need to be a member of BUSINESS ENGLISH to add comments!