Let me know if I have missed anything/something.
why do people normally use anything in that sentence. i thought positive sentences we use something. But for negative and interrogative sentence we use anything. Correct me if i am wrong. Thanks
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Hi, Tony C,
"Any"-compounds are used in neutral questions, that is, in questions where you expect neither an affirmative nor a negative answer. Instead, "some"-compounds are used when you expect an affirmative answer.
Similarly, the reported question "if I have missed anything" implies you don't know if you have missed anything or not, while "if I have missed something" implies you think you have actually missed something.
Hello Gustavo,
So in other words, if the sentence is neither positive or negative, for example where it implies uncertain, it could lean both ways, then we use "any" similar to my question. Am I correct. Other example: e.g. I am not sure whether I have anything to eat at home. Instead of "something".
What do you mean by compound?
@Tony C posted:So in other words, if the sentence is neither positive or negative, for example where it implies uncertain, it could lean both ways, then we use "any" similar to my question. Am I correct. Other example: e.g. I am not sure whether I have anything to eat at home. Instead of "something".
"any" is more usual in questions, but when you expect an affirmative answer, you can use "some": https://dictionary.cambridge.o...grammar/some-and-any
@Tony C posted:What do you mean by compound?
"any"-compounds are words containing "any," like anybody, anyone, anything, anywhere.
"some"-compounds are words containing "some," like somebody, someone, something, somewhere.
Thanks Gustavo, awesome explanation!
