Hello and welcome to LetThemTalk so today we are going to answer a grammar
question that I get regularly and that often causes confusion and that is
what's the difference between SOME and ANY? OK let's get straight into it
So both SOME and ANY are used to talk about uncountable and plural
countable things where we don't know, or don't want to specify, the precise number.
We never use SOME with singular nouns instead use A or AN. ANY is generally used
in questions and negatives and SOME in affirmatives and conditionals and
requests but there are some exceptions to these rules and we'll have a look at
those in a moment. so first of all let's have a look at ANY and as I said it's
usually used in questions and negatives. for example "Are there any vacancies at
your company? I need a job." "No I'm afraid we don't have any."
"Are there any books I need to get for this assignment?" "No you don't need any, all the
information is on the website". "Is there any life on Mars?" "No there's no
life on Mars" I don't think so anyway ok that's easy so let's have at look at SOME we
generally use in affirmative statements. "is there any oxygen on the
moon?" "yes there is some but not very much" actually, I'm not sure so answer in the
comments. "Have you got any books on how to raise a panda bear?" "Yes we have some
in the section over there." And for conditional questions such as those with
"would you like.." "Would you like some tea?"
"Yes I would like some." "Would you like some milk in your tea?" "No thank you, I
don't take milk". And for requests with CAN, COULD and MAY. "Could I have some
quiet please? I'm trying to work", "Can we have some answers to our questions?"
You would normally use SOME in questions starting with "do you mind if...", "How about..?"
"what about..?", (do you) fancy..?" for example "Do you mind if I get some beer from the fridge?"
"You, how about doing some exercise?" "Fancy listening to some music?"
now I said there are some exceptions and in general in questions you use ANY but you can use
SOME in questions too when we are expecting, or encouraging, a positive
answer a yes answer so for example "do you want some help with your homework?" "Have you
got some chocolate doughnuts?" now "Have you got any chocolate doughnuts?" is a
neutral question but "Have you got some chocolate doughnuts" means that I know
that you do and I'm expecting yes response. Do you have any chocolate
doughnuts? answers in the comments
"Is there some way I can get an invitation to the party?" So I think
you have the answer that's why I'm using SOME. Now use ANY not SOME to mean "it
doesn't matter what", "It doesn't matter which" here you can use ANY with a
singular countable noun or an uncountable noun so for example. "Which day
shall I come?" "Any day is ok". "What book do you
recommend?" "Any book from the bottom shelf." "Anytime you're in London we should
definitely meet up." We use some when we don't know the exact thing but it's out
there for example "I want something to eat"
there is something delicious out there for me but I haven't found it yet "I want
to eat anything" I'm so hungry it's not important what it is I will eat
it and an important point to remember use NO and not ANY before a noun when
you want to mean "There isn't any." "None" so example "No job is too small"
which means "There isn't any job which is too small", "No room was available at the
inn", so Jesus had to be born in the stable apparently were you born in a
stable? Answers in the comments. "No man is an island." That's an expression by the way.
Now all these rules for SOME and ANY also apply of course to SOMEONE, SOMEBODY
ANYBODY, ANYONE, SOMEWHERE, ANYWHERE SOMETHING, ANYTHING so just have a look
an example of that "Would you like something to read for your journey?"
"Has anybody lost a wallet?" "Have you been
anywhere interesting lately?" answers in the comments "Can I have something to drink?"
"Have you got somewhere to sleep tonight?"
"have you got anything good to say about Brexit?", "No I haven't got anything good to
say about it" or "I've got nothing good to say about it". Now we've got a
little exercise so do your best to answer the questions correctly
it's an affirmative sentence so you use SOME
it's a question so we use ANYWHERE
it's a negative so we use
ANYWHERE
it's a "would you like" question so you use SOME
it's a request so you use some