What is the Difference Between Some and Any

Hello Dear Friends, I have never met any person who could explain the difference between some and any. Most of the teachers and people were just giving me vague explanations and reasons and rules of the grammar which they don’t understand themselves. They just crammed them. However, I have found the real difference between the use of Some and any. Now, I am going to share the same with you.

The Red Text is copied from a post from another website which obviously states what I have said above and the Blue Text is written by me as per my understanding and observation.

Firstly, Use of Some in your sentences

‘Some’ is used for things that really exist in the world.

For Example, We can say “I am not handsome”, However, We cannot say, “I have not something”. Yes, we can say, I have nothing. So, for the thing which does not exist, we have a separate word ‘nothing’.

Therefore, we use ‘some’ for real things which really exist.

Secondly, Use of Any in English Sentences

We use ‘Any’ for the thing which we do not know at all. It means which we are just guessing. For Example, Anyone can do this. It means in general everyone has the ability to do this but I am not talking about a specific person.

Another example of any, you can eat anything.

Also, the examples I have mentioned above prove that the teachers and books which keep telling us that one should use ‘any’ with negative sentences only are wrong.

Yes, Any is mostly used with negative sentences. However, these books and teachers are not able to explain why it is so.

Dear English Learners, I hope the above explanation helps you understand the usage of any and some.

if you still have any questions, please leave your comments and I would be glad to answer with examples and more easy planations.

Yours Truly
Suniltams English Guru
TAMS Studies English Language Academy

How to use Some and Any in your English sentences?

Countable and uncountable

We use ‘Some’ with both countable and uncountable nouns:

Countable Nouns – ‘Some people in my school like Jazz.’
Uncountable Nouns – ‘There was some snow here last winter.’

Positive sentences
‘Some’ is used in positive sentences:

‘I have some friends.’
‘We bought some coffee.’

Offering
We use some in questions when we expect the answer to be ‘yes’ or when we are offering something, otherwise, we use any:

‘Would you like some milk?

Requests
‘Some’ is also used in questions when we are making a request:

‘Can I borrow some money?’

Any
Negative sentences
Any is used in negative sentences:

‘I don’t have any friends.’
‘There isn’t any bread left.’

Below is the Exercise for You

Questions
Any is used in questions:

‘Do you have any money?’
‘Is there any sugar?’

We will have ___ news soon.
any
some

Would you like ___ breakfast?
any
some

There is not ___ rain in summer.
some
any

Can I have ___ coffee?
any
some

I think I will have ___ toast.
any
some

Do you have ___ pets?
some
any

She had ___ good ideas.
any
some

He does not have ___ patience.
some
any