English grammar
Good day everyone! I would like to ask you a question about English grammar. I had a little quarrel with my teacher about indirect speech in English, indirect questions to be precise. My teacher had given us a paper and there was a question in which we had to paraphrase one sentence and fill the gap in the other with a specific word. Something like this: "His mother asked him if he wanted to invite any more people" we had to paraphrase this into "His mother asked him............he wanted to invite" using word "else". That is what I got: " His mother asked him if there was someone else he wanted to invite". My teacher said it was incorrect. She said that we had a indirect question and we should use any- instead some- because it was a question. Is she right? I just don't get it. It is not a question any more, it was though. So my question is: should I use any or some in indirect questions?
Thank you for your answers.
Sorry for the mistakes, English is my second language.
Top answer
His mother asked him [ if there was someone / anyone else he wanted to invite ] . The determinatives “some” and “any” are polar sensitive, the former having positive orientation ( We’ve got some milk ), the latter negative orientation ( We haven’t got any milk ). But I’m not aware of a restriction in positive interrogatives (questions), whether they be main clauses or subordinate ones.
- His mother asked him [ if there was someone / anyone else he wanted to invite ] .
- The determinatives “some” and “any” are polar sensitive, the former having positive orientation ( We’ve got some milk ), the latter negative orientation ( We haven’t got any milk ).
- But I’m not aware of a restriction in positive interrogatives (questions), whether they be main clauses or subordinate ones.
- However, they contrast semantically, and perhaps this is what your teacher had in mind.
- Consider these: [1] Did he want to invite someone / anyone else ?
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His mother asked him [if there was someone / anyone else he wanted to invite].
The determinatives “some” and “any” are polar sensitive, the former having positive orientation (We’ve got some milk), the latter negative orientation (We haven’t got any milk).
But I’m not aware of a restriction in positive interrogativ
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