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!
