Some & Any

Language Guide German + Dictionary for iPhone and iPod-Touch (made by ego4u) Exercises on some and any The words some and any are used for countable and uncountable nouns. In general, we could say that some means a few / a little and any means none in negati e clauses or a few / a little in !uestions.

Positive Clauses
In "ositi e clauses, we usually use some. Exam"le# I ha e bought some bread. I ha e bought some a""les.

Negative Clauses
In negati e clauses, we use any. $ote, howe er, that any alone is not a negati e - it must be not ... any Exam"le# I ha e not bought any bread. I ha e not bought any a""les.

Questions
In !uestions, we usually use any. Exam"le# %a e you bought any bread& %a e you bought any a""les&

Compound Words wit some & any

'ome ( any can also be "art of com"ound words such as#

something ) anything someone ) anyone somewhere ) anywhere

$ote that some ( any ha e to be used with a noun while com"ound words with some ( any can stand on their own. Exam"le# I ha e bought some bread. I ha e bought something. However, some and any need not stand directly before the noun. 'ometimes, the noun a""ears somewhere before some or any and is not re"eated. 'o if you are not sure whether to use some or something for exam"le, chec* if there is a noun in the sentence that you can "lace after some. Exam"le# I do not ha e to buy bread. +achel has already bought some [bread].

!"ceptions
Positive Clauses wit Any
,e usually use some in "ositi e clauses. -ut after never, without, hardly, we use any. Exam"le# ,e ne er go anywhere. 'he did her homewor* without any hel". There.s hardly anyone here. /lso in if clauses, we usually use any. Exam"le# If there is anything to do, 0ust call me.

Questions wit Some

,e usually use any in !uestions. -ut if we ex"ect or want the other to answer 1yes2, we use some. Exam"le# %a e you got any brothers and sisters& 3 some "eo"le ha e brothers or sisters, others don4t - we cannot ex"ect the answer to be 1yes2 ,ould you li*e some biscuits& 3 we offer something and want to encourage the other to say 10a2

#uc $ many
Exercises on much and many The words much and many mean a lot of.

If a noun is in singular, we use much Exam"le# much money If a noun is in "lural, we use many Exam"le# many friends

%se o& muc $ many

In e eryday English, we normally use much / many only in !uestions and negati e clauses. Exam"le# %ow much money ha e you got& 5arla does not ha e many friends. In "ositi e clauses with so, as or too, we also use much / many. Exam"le# 5arla has so many friends. 'he has as many friends as 'ue. 6e in has too much money. In all other "ositi e clauses, howe er, we "refer ex"ressions li*e a lot of ) lots of. Exam"le# 5arla has a lot of ) lots of friends. 6e in has a lot of ) lots of money. In formal texts, howe er, much ) many are also common in "ositi e clauses. This you will notice for exam"le when you read English news.

Counta'le $ %ncounta'le Nouns

In connection with much ) many "eo"le often s"ea* of countable nouns and uncountable nouns.

Counta'le nouns ha e a singular and a "lural form. In "lural, these nouns can be used with a number (that4s why they are called 4countable nouns4). 5ountable nouns ta*e many. Exam"le# 788 friends 9 many friends %ncounta'le nouns can only be used in singular. These nouns cannot be used with a number (that4s why they are called 4uncountable nouns4). :ncountable nouns ta*e much. Exam"le# 788 money 9 much money Note( ;f course you can count money 9 but then you would name the currency and say that you ha e got < euro (but not =< money>).