SOME VS ANY

SOME VS ANY

Do you have any questions about when to use "some" and "any"? I have some useful tips for you today. Hi, I'm Nouhaila from Speaking English With Noha. Now, these two words are very common English words that are often confused and misused by English learners. And although they seem to have very similar meanings, they are not often interchangeable. It is therefore important to know which word to use and when to use it.

SOME VS ANY

In this lesson, I will clear up some of this confusion in order to icrease your English Grammar and avoid making such mistakes in the future. We will review the definitions of "some" and "any" general uses and some of the exceptions to the rules.

The first thing to know is that we use "some" and "any" before plural and uncountable names. And we do it to talk about a number of things when we don't know exactly how many or how many things we want

I need to buy some bread.

I say I have to buy a quantity of bread but I am not specific, I do not say exactly how many or how much I need.

I need to buy some bread.
Is there any pasta left?

Now, again, we want to know if there is any pasta left, but the exact amount doesn't matter to me, I just want to know if there is an amount.

Now, because "some" and "all" are used in very similar situations, it is often difficult to know which one you should use, right? We will therefore review the general grammar rules to help you choose the one to use. But certainly stay until the end of this lesson. It is necessary to be aware of certain exceptions to these rules. And I will come back to this a little later, but later, later, later, I also have a questionnaire that will help you test what you have learned in this lesson.
So, as a general rule, we use "some" with positive or affirmative sentences.

I left some soap for you within the kitchen!

Please treat us with some respect.
He said he would get the cat some food from the shop.
Now we will use "any" with negative sentences and queries, okay?

Did you leave any soap for me?
Do you have any respect for us?
Did you get the cat any food from the shop?

So it's pretty simple, right? There are clear rules but, like many things in English, there are also several exceptions to this rule. Now, this is where the fun begins. All right, take a look at this question.

Can you devour some low on your means home?

We use "some" and that's a question. Now it's an exception. We use "some" in the questions when you are pretty sure that the answer will be yes. I ask you to have a coffee, because I know it is very likely or very likely that you would say yes, that you will buy the coffee.

Now, the questions we are waiting for the answer are often acceptable offers or requests?
Would you like some milk in your coffee?
Would you like some milk in your coffee?

Alright I’m being polite. I’m asking you but I know that you probably want milk in your coffee.
Now if I said:
Would you like any milk in your coffee?

I’m asking because I actually don’t really know if you have milk in your coffee or not.
Do you need me to lend you some money?

Now I already know that you need money and I’m expecting you to say yes but if I said:
Do you need me to lend you any money?

I’m asking because honestly I don’t really know the answer. Now this isn’t the only exception okay? We have a couple more important ones to get through but that one is an important one to remember.
Alright so that was a very subtle difference. Now let’s move on to the second exception. Before I said that ‘any’ is used in negative sentences and not positive ones, right? Do you remember? But you can use ‘any’ in an affirmative sentence or a positive sentence if the sentence has a negative feeling.
Now positive sentences that embody negative feelings sometimes call on the carpet like: hardly, never, rarely and without in them.

It’s silly to go travelling without any money in the bank.

Now this sentence is a positive structure but we’re talking about the lack of money which is a negative feeling or a negative idea.

He hardly has any hair left!

That’s what we’re talking about. Now there’s one last situation where ‘any’ can be used in an affirmative sentence.

Now this is often a special exception as a result of it’s additionally the sole time that you simply may see ‘any’ or ‘some’ being employed with a singular calculable noun.
That’s a general rule that we’re breaking here. We can use ‘any’ in an affirmative sentence and commonly with a singular countable noun as a way to say it doesn’t matter which one, alright?

You can take any road going south.

It doesn’t matter which road you take, it’s not important. You can take any of them.

Grab any shirt that you want!

It’s not important which shirt you take, you can have whichever one you want.

You can fly with any company.

It doesn’t matter which one.

All right, this all!

thank you for reading this, if you enjoyed the lesson say something or just  Hi in the comments and if you have any question or suggestion to the next lesson put them in the comments and I’m gonna answer to all of your questions.

See you soon in the next english grammar lesson.