ANY & SOME
Any with plural and
uncountable nouns
Any is normally used with plural and
uncountable nouns in questions, negative and conditional sentences and some with positive ones:
Examples with any:
-
Do we have any beer?
-
Yes, we do. It's in the fridge.
-
No suitcases?
-
No, I don't have any suitcases.
-
If you need any help with your packing,
just let me know.
-
If your hand luggage contains any knives
or scissors, they will be confiscated.
Examples with some:
-
I have some pencils on my desk.
-
Some of the students don’t pass the exam.
With
this usage, in these examples, we would normally require a/an before
a singular countable noun:
-
Have you got a glass for the beer?
-
Have you got a vase for the flowers?
-
I don't have a suitcase, just hand
luggage.
-
If your hand luggage contains a knife or a
pair of scissors, they will be confiscated.
We
would not normally say:
-
Have you got any glass for the beer?
-
Have you got any vase for the flowers?
-
I don't have any suitcase, just hand
luggage.
-
If your hand luggage contains any knife or
any pair of scissors, they will be confiscated.
Any with singular
countable nouns
However,
when we want to emphasize that any means of any kind,
it is quite natural to use any with singular uncountable nouns. So in your
example, Esther, any query - meaning any kind of query - is a justifiable
alternative to any queries:
-
If you have any queries about the trip to
the Philippines, please ask me.
-
If you have any query about the trip to
the Philippines, please ask me.
To emphasize any
query a bit more, we could also say:
-
If you have any query whatsoever - it
doesn't matter what it is - please ask me.
Note
also the following examples of this kind of use:
-
Which newspaper would you like?
-
Any newspaper, as long as it's a
broadsheet.
-
Where does he normally play?
-
He normally plays in defense, but he can
play in any position.
Some or any in
questions?
Note
that we tend to use some instead of any when
we expect a positive answer to the questions we are asking:
-
Would you like some more pasta and salad?
-
No more thanks. I'm quite full.
-
Don't you need some new clothes for when
you start your new job?
-
Yes, I do.
-
Shall I send you some information about
our new products?
-
Yes, please do.