"Add" and "any" are two little words of English that are always together and generate many doubts in our mind when using them. However, we can avoid so many doubts with some basic tips.
Generally, the most frequent doubts are related to the fact that we use the words “some” and “any” related to the concept of countable and uncountable in English. Nouns that are used in reference to substances, liquids or masses and that are not commonly measured in units are called uncountable (uncountable nouns). Those that are easily countable, that is, those that can be measured in quantities, are called countable (countable nouns).
We use the countless nouns with the word “some”, since they don't have an exact quantity. We often use "some" to precede these nouns, such as “some milk”, “some butter”, “some money”, “some water”.
The classification that exists in English for counts and uncountables is different from ours in Portuguese. For example, here in Brazil, we go to the bakery and ask: “Give me two loaves, please!”. In English speaking countries, you cannot use an exact number to place your bread order, you must use the word “some” to refer to the amount of bread you want. For example:
I need some bread! (I need some buns!). However, this same bread (bread), which is considered uncountable, can be countable if preceded by some measure. We can say, for example: “I need 5 loaves of bread, please!” (I need 5 loaves of bread, please!).Other measures are also used to measure the elements said to be countless, such as bottles (bottles), boxes (box/carton), pieces (pieces), kilos (pound), slices (slices), liters (liter). In this way, we can then say:
→ 4 bottles of wine / 4 bottles of wine
→ 1 box of cereal / 1 box of cereal
→ 3 cards of milk / 3 milk cartons
→ 1 piece of cake / 1 piece of cake
→ 2 pounds of cheese / 2 pounds* of cheese
→ 4 slices of pizza / 4 slices of pizza
→ 3 liter of water / 3 liters of water
Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)
Very important!!!
Opportunity: Online English course
Sign up and get 50% DISCOUNT + FREE Brazilian national team shirt
Remember that the word “some” is used for both uncountable nouns and countable nouns. We use “some” when we don't have the exact amount of the noun in question, which can be either uncountable or countable.
See the examples:
- Countable nouns / Countable nouns:
Book, Orange, Notebook, apple, friends, onions etc.
→ I have some books! / I have some books!
→ I need add oranges! / I need some oranges!
→ she has put away notebooks. / She has some notebooks.
→ we have add apples. / We have some apples.
→ I'll invite some friends. / I'm going to invite some friends.
→ my mother bought add onions. / My mom bought some onions.
Now it's easy to talk about "any". The terms "add" and "any" are used with countable and uncountable nouns, but with a BIG DIFFERENCE, which is even the point that allows us to differentiate them and make their correct placements in sentences: "any" is used ONLY in sentences negative and interrogatives, NEVER in sentences affirmatives. For these, use “disappear”.
Check out the examples:
→ are there any apples? / Are there any apples? / Are there any apples?
→ are there any potatoes? / Are there any potatoes? / Are there any potatoes?
→ is there any cheese? / Is there any cheese? / Is there any cheese?
→ do you have any milk? / Do you have any milk? / Do you have any milk?
→ I dont have any potato./ I don't have any potatoes.
→ they don’t have any cheese. / They don't have any cheese.
→ do you have any kids? / Do you have any children?
note:
*Pound is a unit of mass used in the English system of weights and measures, being equivalent to 0.45359237 kilograms.
By Janaína Mourão
Graduated in Letters - English
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
MOURãO, Janaína Pereira. "Use of “some” and “any”"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/ingles/uso-some-any.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
