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Slocawber Posted 12 years ago
Grammar

Someone VS anyone

Please, consider the following sentence:

If someone bullied your friend, what would you do?

One of my students asked:

Shouldn't we use 'anyone' instead of 'someone' in

an interrogative sentence?

How would you answer that question?

Thank you.

P.S. Please consider the following issue separately:

is there any difference in the use of 'someone' if

it's the subject or the object of the if-clause?

I mean: would you change its form according to its

function, i.e. 'someone' as subject, 'anyone' as

object ?
  

Top answer

slocawber How would you answer that question? 'Someone' (and something, somewhere. etc) is the form normally used in affirmative statements.

— Mister Micawber

  • slocawber How would you answer that question?
  • 'Someone' (and something, somewhere.
  • etc) is the form normally used in affirmative statements.
  • 'Any-' normally appears in questions and negative statements.
  • slocawber is there any difference in the use of 'someone' if it's the subject or the object of the if-clause?
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5 Answers
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slocawberHow would you answer that question?
'Someone' (and something, somewhere. etc) is the form normally used in affirmative statements. 'Any-' normally appears in questions and negative statements.
slocawberis there any difference in the use of 'someone' if it's the subject or the object of the if-clause?
No.
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With ref. to the first question: Would you then use "anyone" instead of " someone" in

"If someone bullied your friend, what would you do?" ?

Thank you.
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slocawberWould you then use "anyone" instead of " someone" in "If someone bullied your friend, what would you do?" ?
I would use either without fear or favour. Notice that the pronoun is not in the question clause.
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Let me make a variation in order to get a question clause where I can use 'anyone':

If they were you, what would anyone do?

Do you think this is acceptable? It's just to give an example, that's not far from the
one previously mentioned, in which 'anyone' appears correctly.

Thank you again.
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slocawberDo you think this is acceptable?
Yes.
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