Hello, and today, I'm going to talk about quantifiers! Now, when we talk about quantifiers, we refer to those little words that we use, such as some, and any, little, a few, much and many. In this episode, I'm just going to talk about some and any, and the other quantifiers I'll look at in a separate podcast.
Now, I think it's more useful if we think of some and any when we talk about plurals as just the plural of a or an. So if I have a pen in my hand, there is one pen. If I have more than one, I have some pens or any pens, depending on whether we are talking about questions or negatives or affirmative sentences. Okay, so some and any are the plural of a or an. So we say for example,
There are some books on the chair.
And if it's negative, we usually say,
There aren't any books on the chair.
And then if it's a question, we usually use any again. So,
Are there any books on the chair?
Now some and any, do talk about uncountable things. So we're referring to things that we cannot count, for example, milk, or ice cream, or water. So we say,
There's some milk in the fridge?
And the negative would be,
There isn't any milk in the fridge.
And the question,
Is there any milk in the fridge?
Now there are other words, which are also negative, like never, or hardly ever. And so we use any with these words,
You never give me any money.
So any because we're using the word never.
I hardly ever see any friends these days.
And then there is another negative word. For example, without (the opposite of with).
You can't make an omelette without breaking any eggs.
Because we use without which has a sort of a negative meaning about it. So we use any. And [there are] other words as well which are rather negative, for example, stop or to prevent.
The motorbikes at night stop me from getting any sleep.
...or prevent me from getting any sleep.
Now, there are two ways to make negative sentences in English. We can use, not + any or just no by itself. And there's no difference in meaning. So I can say,
There aren't any people on the beach.
...or,
There are no people on the beach.
There isn't any petrol in my car.
...or,
There's no petrol in my car.
So it's not + any or just no. What we can't do is to have two negatives in one sentence.
There isn't no petrol in my car.
...is not possible. We can't say that because we have not and no. And we can't have two negatives in one sentence to make a negative. And it's true that the no structure is perhaps more formal than the not any structure. So in this statement here, for example,
Police have found no evidence to suggest Mr Smith was guilty.
Police have found no evidence - it sounds more formal than saying,
Police haven't found any evidence to suggest Mr Smith was guilty.
Now, is it true then that we just use some in affirmative sentences and any in negative sentences? Well, not always. Look at these examples here - or listen to these examples.
Would you like some more cake?
Would you like some more biscuits?
So often, if we're expecting the answer to be yes. Or we're offering something to somebody, we will use some. Okay, we can say,
Would you like any more cake?
That's all right, too. But we do usually say, Would you like some more cake?
Mum, have you got some money you can lend me?
...because you expect the answer to be yes.
Can I have some cream in my coffee, please?
So here I'm asking for something. Can I have some cream in my coffee, please? And it sounds better, I suppose. And it's more common than saying, Can I have any cream? In fact, Can I have any cream in my coffee? doesn't really sound right at all!
Can I have some cream in my coffee?
Because you're asking for something.
One more thing about any is that it's used when it means it doesn't matter which. So the other day, for example, a teacher came into my classroom and she said,
Excuse me, have you got a chair I can take?
And I said, yes. There were lots of chairs. And I said,
Yes. Take any chair you like. There are a lot of them.
And it doesn't matter which. So any then is used when we're talking about [when it] doesn't matter - that one, this one, the other one. Take any chair you like.
I'm going to say some sentences and I want you to insert the words in the spaces and the spaces sound like this [harmonica note].
You must say some, any or no in those spaces. So here we go.
1) There are _________ books on the chair.
2) There aren't _________ books on the chair.
3) You never give me _________ money.
4) You can't make an omelette without breaking ________ eggs.
This is a negative sentence:
5) There are ________ people on the beach.
6) Would you like ________ biscuits?
Excuse me. I haven't got a chair. Can I have one of yours? Yes, of course.
7) Take _________ chair you like.
1) some, 2) any, 3) any, 4) any, 5) no, 6) some (any is possible), 7) any.
Okay, good, well done. And bye for now.
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