Rule for some/any?

Question

Hi,I am studying english myself by reading english newspager or watching the original version of movies. I am a little bit confused about the simple use of the word some and any. At school many years ago we ve learned that "some" is used in positive sentences, but "any" in negative sentences or questions. But I find many different examples:Is there some question as to why that is?Would you mind if I had some time off?Let me know if you have any further questions.Let me know if you wish to add anything.Can anyone/someone(?) of you explain me what the correct rule is?Thanks in advance,Thomas B."Alvy, don't! You're using sex to express hostility." "Why do you always reduce my animal urges to psychoanalytic categories?"

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]I am studying english myself by reading english newspager or watching the original version of movies. I am a little ... Let me know if you wish to add anything. Can anyone/someone(?) of you explain me what the correct rule is?[/nq]
As you know, English rules are generalizations
from prior usage: they are not applied a priori and they are seldom part of correct grammar. E.g. sentences Is there some question . . . ?
Is there any question . . . ?
are both grammatically correct, and they are functionally equivalent, but are semantically different in nuance.

In this case, one practical guideline is to use Some when we want to talk about quantity (e.g. time) and to reserve Any for countable items (e.g. questions.
But we then discover that most people measure
time in countable minutes . . . )

Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I am studying english myself by reading english newspager or watching the original version of movies. I am a little ... Let me know if you wish to add anything. Can anyone/someone(?) of you explain me what the correct rule is?[/nq]
A fair question, but I don't think there's a simple answer. Your four examples all sound like correct idiomatic English to me. It's pretty easy to write examples of "some" and "any" that don't conform to the rule you were taught.
The best I can tell you is that sometimes a question is asked with "some" and the negative answer needs "any":
"Did you find some good books?" (In the question, "any" would be as good as "some".)
"No, the library didn't have any that I felt like reading." (You could not change "any" to "some" in that answer.)

Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA http://oakroadsystems.com/
"Don't move, or I'll fill you full of (... pause ...) little yellow bolts of light." Farscape, first episode

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]I am studying english myself by reading english newspager or ... in positive sentences, but "any" in negative sentences or questions.[/nq]
(snip)
I agree with what the others have responded. Your teachers or textbooks might have said that there is some connection between "some/any" and "positive/negative," but they should never have implied that it is some simple, drastic, or well-known divide. It is not.
The story I've probably told more than once here: a friend learned while waitressing that "Any more coffee?" tended to be answered "No" and "Some more coffee?" tended to be answered "Yes." The customers appeared unaware of the effect. Both questions are perfectly grammatical (with the informal dropping of "Do you want...").

Best Donna Richoux

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Hi, I am studying english myself by reading english newspager or watching the original version of movies. I am a ... Let me know if you wish to add anything. Can anyone/someone(?) of you explain me what the correct rule is?[/nq]
Beware of teachers and others who claim rules for English usage. Almost without exception, there are exceptions.
In the cases you cite, at first glance both 'some' and 'any' appear to be interchangeable, and there is nothing inherently wrong with either, and certainly no rule.
If I was being really picky, there might be some subtle nuances.

In the first example for instance, 'some question' could imply that you think there might be a particular question about which you are seeking information. Using the word 'any' is rather more general and suggests you really don't have any idea.
In the second example, 'some time off' suggests to an employer (say), that you might have an idea about when you want to take time off, whereas 'any' conveys the idea that the question is one of a general nature.
As I said, it's a rather subtle point and neither word is wrong.

Rgds

Richard Buttrey
Grappenhall, Cheshire, UK

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Hi, I am studying english myself by reading english newspager or watching the original version of movies. I am a ... Let me know if you wish to add anything. Can anyone/someone(?) of you explain me what the correct rule is?[/nq]
Neither "anyone" nor "someone" works for me in that sentence. I might say "Can anyone here explain *to* me what the correct rule is?" Or the same with "someone".
Some linguists call the relevant phenomenon "negative polarity". Prof. John Lawler posted a discussion of it to a.u.e. some years ago. It's on his Web site at
, and I found it interesting, but complicated. In brief, English has "negative polarity items", such as "any" and (in American English) "budge"; they can occur only with "negative triggers", such as negatives and questions. The article has "a fairly complete list" of negative-polarity items and triggers.
Your third and fourth example are covered by the observation that a "whether" clause, or a clause where "if" is used in the same way, is an implied question, which is a negative-polarity trigger.

For your first and second examples, all I can tell you is that they're correct both ways, and apparently "someone" can sometimes be used in a negative-polarity environment. But I couldn't tell you how to determine when.

Jerry Friedman

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]I am studying english myself by reading english newspager or ... you mind if I had some time off?[/nq]
Note that these are both yes/no questions.
Such questions invoke the possibility of a 'no',
thus falling within the scope of negation and
licensing the more sensitive negative polarity
items, like 'any'. However, they also invoke
the possibility of a 'yes', and therefore they
also license words like 'some'. The result is
that the question asker gets to imply the result
expected from the question answerer, not unlike
the effect with a tag question:
He's finished, isn't he?
He's not finished, is he?
[nq:2]Let me know if you have any further questions. Let me know if you wish to add anything.[/nq]
'If' clauses work like questions (indeed, 'whether', a wh-question word, is synonymous with 'if') and
license either 'any' or 'some'.
[nq:2]Can anyone/someone(?) of you explain me what the correct rule is?[/nq]
[nq:1]Neither "anyone" nor "someone" works for me in that sentence. I might say "Can anyone here explain *to* me what ... with "negative triggers", such as negatives and questions. The article has "a fairly complete list" of negative-polarity items and triggers.[/nq]
The list is also available in pdf format at
http://www.umich.edu/~jlawler/NPIs.pdf
and a short problem about how they work from my grammar class, at

http://www.umich.edu/~jlawler/NPIsquish.pdf
[nq:1]Your third and fourth example are covered by the observation that a "whether" clause, or a clause where "if" is used in the same way, is an implied question, which is a negative-polarity trigger.[/nq]
Yup. Negation is not simple. It's in the same semantic boat with modality and quantification, and that's a big, complicated boat indeed.

-John Lawler http://www.umich.edu/~jlawler U Michigan Linguistics Dept "A man does not know what he is saying until he knows what he is not saying." G.K. Chesterton, 1936, "As I Was Saying"

Rule for some/any?

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