SOME & ANY
• SOME is used in positive sentences (somebody, someone, something)
• ANY is used in negative sentences (anybody, anyone, anything)
| SOME |
ANY |
We bought some flowers
He’s busy. He’s got some work to do.
There’s somebody at the door. |
We didn’t buy any flowers.
He’s lazy. He never does any work.
There isn’t anybody at the door. |
• ANY is also used:
- when the meaning is negative:
"She refuses to eat anything."
"He went out without any money."
- in questions:
"Have you got any bread?"
"Has anybody seen my bag?"
!! when the expected answer is ‘yes’ or when we offer something we use SOME:
"What’s wrong? Have you got something in your eye?"
"Do you want some tea?"
- as a translation of “n’importe lequel”:
"I can catch any bus. They all go to the centre."
"What do you want to eat? Anything, I don’t mind."
Compare: I’m hungry, I want something to eat.
"What do you want?"
"Anything."
- You can use them at the beginning of a sentence (= aucun, rien, personne)
"No cars are allowed here."
"Nobody came."
"No one is innocent."
- No / nothing / nobody / no one = not + any / anything / anybody, etc.
"We haven’t got any money" = "we have no money"
"I didn’t say anything" = "I said nothing"
!! When you use no / nothing / nobody / no one do not use a negative verb