Some vs Any | Ask Linda! | English Grammar
"Some" and "Any" are two words that often cause confusion, which is why we have decided to take a closer look at the difference of the two words in this video. Firsly, "some" is a determiner used for positive statements while "any" is a determiner used in questions and negative statements. Consider the following situation: "I asked the teacher if he could give me some paper. I said "Excuse me, have you got any paper" Unfortunately, he didn't have any." The first statement is positive and therefore requires us to use "some". The second sentence is a question and therefore, we need to use "any". The third and final sentence is a negative statement which also requries us to use "any". It's worth noting that we do sometimes use "some" in questions and we also use "any" in positive statements. For example, we use "some" in questions when making an offer or request"Would you like some tea". Alternatively, we use "any" in positive statements when it follows a word with a negative or limiting meaning "We rarely have any problems with it." The best way to get comfortable with the usage is to listen to native speakers or read a lot of English text.
Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly structured design means that you can quickly get to grips with each section before moving onto the next.
