Anyis adeterminer and apronoun.
Anyas a determiner
We useanybefore nouns to refer to indefinite or unknown quantities or an unlimited entity:
Did you bringanybread?
Mr Jacobson refused to answeranyquestions.
If I were able to travel back toanyplace and time in history, I would go to ancient China.
Anyas a determiner has two forms: a strong form and a weak form. The forms have different meanings.
Weak formany: indefinite quantities
We useanyfor indefinite quantities in questions and negative sentences. We usesomein affirmative sentences:
Have you gotanyeggs?
I haven’t gotanyeggs.
I’ve gotsomeeggs.
Not:I’ve got any eggs.
We use weak formanyonly with uncountable nouns or with plural nouns:
[talking about fuel for the car]
Do I need to getanypetrol?(+ uncountable noun)
There aren’tanycleanknives. They’re all in the dishwasher.(+ plural noun)
We don’t useanywith this meaning with singular countable nouns:
Have you gotanyItalian cookery books?(or …anItalian cookery book?)
Not:Have you got any Italian cookery book?
Strong formanymeaning ‘it does not matter which’
We useanyto mean ‘it does not matter which or what’, to describe something which is not limited. We use this meaning ofanywith all types of nouns and usually in affirmative sentences.
In speaking we often stressany:
Call 0800675-437 foranyinformation about the courses.(+ uncountable noun)
When you make a late booking, you don’t know where you’re going to go, do you? It could beanydestination.(+ singular countable noun)
[talking about a contract for new employees]
Do we haveanyform of agreement with new staff when they start?(+ singular countable noun)
[a parent talking to a child about a picture he has painted]
A:Idon’t think I’ve ever seen you paint such a beautiful picture before. Gosh! Did you choose the colours?
B:We could chooseanycolours we wanted. (+ plural countable noun)
See also:
Determiners and types of noun
Someandany
Anyas a pronoun
Anycan be used as a pronoun (without a noun following) when the noun is understood.
A:Have you got some £1 coins on you?
B:Sorry, I don’t think I haveany. (understood: I don’t think I have any £1 coins.)
[parents talking about their children’s school homework]
A:Do you find that Elizabeth gets lots of homework? Marie gets a lot.
B:No not really. She gets hardlyany. (understood: She gets hardly any homework.)
A:What did you think of the cake? It was delicious, wasn’t it?
B:I don’t know. I didn’t getany. (understood: I didn’t get any of the cake.)
See also:
Determiners used as pronouns
Any of
We useanywithofbefore articles (a/an, the), demonstratives (this, these), pronouns (you, us) or possessives (his, their):
Shall I keepany of thesespices? I think they’re all out of date.
Not: …any these spices?
We useany ofto refer to a part of a whole:
Areany of yougoing to the meeting?
I couldn’t answerany of thesequestions.
I listen to Abba but I’ve never boughtany of theirmusic.
See also:
More than one determiner
Not anyandno
Anydoesn’t have a negative meaning on its own. It must be used with a negativeword tomean the same asno.
not any | no |
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The examples withnoin the right-hand column above give greater emphasis than the examples withnot anyin the left-hand column.
See also:
Noornot?
Anyorevery?
We useanyandeveryto talk about the total numbers of things in a group. Their meanings are not exactly the same:
Anydoctor can prescribe medicine.(orEverydoctor can …)
Everyalways refers to the total number of something.Anyrefers to one, several or all of a total number. We useeverynotanywith singular countable nouns when wemean ‘each individual member of a group of something’.
| It doesn’t matter which one, or you can come every evening. |
| All of the evenings. |
See also:
Every
Anyand comparatives
We useanywith comparative adjectives and adverbs:
You can’t buy this laptopany cheaperthan here.(It isn’t possible to buy the laptop cheaper in another place.)
I’ll see if we can goany faster.(faster than we are going now)
Any: typical errors
We don’t use ‘weak form’anywith singular countable nouns:
They have a big lunch in school so they don’t needahot meal in the evening.
Not: …so they don’t need any hot meal in the evening.
We useeverynotanywith singular countable nouns when we mean ‘each individual member of a group’:
The hotel is luxurious and it haseverytype of activity.
Not: …it has any type of activity…
See also:
Every
We don’t use ‘weak form’anyon its own in statements. We usenoor we put a negative word, e.g.not, before it:
There werenolifts so we had to climb five flights of stairs.
There weren’t anylifts so we had to climb five flights of stairs.
Not:There were any lifts…
We usesomenotanybefore countable nouns in statements to refer to an indefinite quantity of something:
I must buysomeplants. They’re so nice.
Not:I must buy any plants.
See also:
Determiners (the, my,some,this)
Pronouns