Lindsay McMahon
"The English Adventurer"

Today get an answer from a listener question about the difference between “some” and “any” and find out how you can close your grammar book and start learning in a new way as soon as possible.

” What is the difference between “some books” and “some book.” I want to know how to use them. I also want to know the difference between “any book” and “any books” as well.

-Erico

We use “some” when we don’t care about the quantity or the amount.

  • I got some books for Christmas.

When we say this we don’t care about the number of books.

It’s about the fact that I got books.

 

Other examples:

  • “You have some flour on your face”: It doesn’t matter how much flour is on the person’s face.
  • “It’s going to take some time before we can speak again”: We don’t know how much time.

 

We use “some” when something is unknown or unfamiliar

  • “Some guy came over and asked me where I lived”
  • “Some lady called for you and here’s her number.”

In both of these sentences we don’t know who the person is.

 

We use “any” in negative sentences or questions:

  • “You go shopping every weekend so no wonder you don’t have any money”
  • “Do you have any milk in the fridge?”

 

“Any ideas” versus “any idea”:

  • Do you have any idea how to use this app? Here we are looking for one specific response.
  • Does anyone have any ideas for our next marketing campaign? This is looking for a number of ideas.

 

Leave us a sample sentence in the comments below.

Practice this here!

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