45 SOME ANY and NO

M : today’s episode is about how to use the words: SOME ANY and NO ! C : hey, Marta, why did you choose this topic? M : uh..well, I teach English in a private school here in Italy, my course is called “English Amplifier” C : yes, and all of your students are so nice and so smart! M : you’re right, they are wonderful, all of them. And they’ve been amazing this last year, they have improved so much. Let me send them a big hello: hey guys, you’re the best! C : Hey guys! M : Back to your question, some of my students at English Amplifier asked me about the difference between “some” and “any”. And I thought that maybe it could be interesting to our listeners as well. C : Ok, let’s start by saying that ‘SOME’ is used in positive statements and ‘ANY’ in questions and negative statements. M : Right. C : for example : Marta, do you have any friends in Michigan ? M : Yes, I do. I have some dear friends in Michigan. C : And do you have any friends in New Zealand ? M : uhm… no, I don’t have any friends there. I don’t know anybody from New Zealand. Not yet. C : Do you know anybody living in Australia? M : I do know somebody living in Down Under, yes, our beautiful friend Laura. C : Hi Laura! Find a cute Koala bear and give him some nice big kisses from me and Marta. ☺ M : Ok, the main rule is clear. SOME in positive statements and ANY in questions and negative sentences. C : But whenever there’s a rule, there is also…. M : ….the exception to the rule? C : Exactly. SOME is used in questions -instead of any- when we’re dealing with REQUESTS for example: “Excuse me, could you give me some information about this museum?” or : “Can I have some water please?” M : and OFFERS, like in : Would you like some bread? Can I get you something to drink? C : Right, again: we use SOME in questions only for OFFERS and REQUESTS. M : Ok, got it. C : now let’s take a better look at negative sentences. Let’s imagine …an empty fridge. M : how sad! Ok, the fridge is empty…and I’m hungry. C : I’m sorry Marta, There isn’t any food in the fridge. M : There isn’t any food in the fridge. Not Any. That’s “any” used in a negative sentence. C : Right, but I can also say: There is no food in the fridge. M : “no” stands for “not any”. C : when “no” is used the verb is positive. For example:. there isn’t anything to eat. There is nothing to eat. Or: There aren’t any kangaroos in Italy. There are no kangaroos in Italy. M : Laura, please, next time you visit Italy bring us some kangaroos! ☺ C : Kangaroos, koalas, wombats…we’ll be happy with petting any cute animals from Australia. M : oh, wait a second. You’ve just used “any” in a positive sentence. C : yes, when “any” is used in a positive statement it means : “it doesn’t matter which”. For example: “you can call me any time in the afternoon”. or: “A mother can do anything for her children”. Or : Where do you want to go on vacation this summer? We can go anywhere as long as there are beaches and sunshine.” M : Sunshine! We definitely could use some sunshine here in northern Italy. C : oh yeah, we’ve had a most unusual and terrible winter, with a lot of snow, never-ending rain and even hailstorms lately. Anyway, it’s May now and the weather will improve for sure. M : Quoting the film “The Crow” : it can’t rain all the time! ☺ C : We hope so! C : Ok, listeners, that’s all for now. You can find the transcript of this episode on our blog: , Thank you everyone for liking us on facebook, following us on Twitter, watching our videos on youtube. We have received a lot of comments lately, we’re always very happy to hear from you. Special thanks to : M : Olivier, Bairma, Gabor, Sergio, Afshin, Gertraud, Manfred, Angela, Hoa Tran, Alessandro, Igor, Letizia. Thanks everybody! Bye bye! C : Bye!

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45 SOME ANY and NO is an episode from my American friend.

This episode is 6:39 long.

This episode was published on May 19, 2013.

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