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?If anyone is found guilty?.?
The British Council?s language clinic with ?Dr Danny?
Hello and welcome to the British Council?s English Language Clinic. This week I have been asked a very specific question; whether the word ?any? is singular or plural. The question came with two examples and asked which was correct? ?If any boy is found guilty?? or ?If any boys is found guilty?? The first example is grammatically correct, the second is not. The error is not in the use of the word ?any?; it is in the form of the verb ?to be?. In the first example the noun is singular ?boy? and therefore the singular form of the verb, ?is?, is correctly used. In the second example the noun is plural, ?boys?, the verb should therefore also be plural, ?are?.
In the example given with this question ?any? is being used as an adjective, to mean ?no matter which?, it is a description of the inclusive nature of the statement; that it refers to all the boys. In this way it is similar to the invitation of a magician, holding out a deck of cards? ?Take a card, ?any? card.? Your choice of cards is not limited.
?Any? is also used to replace ?some? in questions and negative sentences where the object is either plural or uncountable. For example: There are ?some? people (positive). Are there ?any? people? (question). There aren?t ?any? people (negative).
On a similar theme I have been asked what the difference is between ?someone? and somebody?, and between ?anyone? and ?anybody?. This question is a little more straightforward to answer; there is no difference, other than that the words ending ?-one? are more commonly used in writing.
Please send your comments, queries and questions to ?Dr Danny? at the British Council Language Clinic by emailing the following address [email protected]
The British Council has a limited number of places on an Intensive I.E.L.T.S. Preparation Course. To find out more about the course or any of the services which we provide, please call on 403 0200.
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