SOMETHING and ANYTHING - Learn English About the Difference between Something and Anything

Hello students. Welcome back to the English Danny Channel. Have you ever

wondered what the difference is between something and anything? Today we're going

to explain the differences in a way that will help you understand not just those

words, but several other word families. Well, what does that mean? I'll explain it

in just a minute.

Okay, welcome back. If you haven't already, don't forget to subscribe to the English

Danny channel. We're producing new videos just like this one every week that can

help you learn English. Okay, today's topic is understanding the

difference between some and any. I have to begin this lesson by explaining or

reminding you, if you're already an advanced student, about what a prefix is.

Okay, many English words have prefixes which can help you understand the

meaning of a word, even if you've never seen it before.

So even that word itself prefix has an example in it. The first three letters of

the word prefix, "PRE" have a meaning, and that meaning is earlier before or in

front of. So, a prefix is a meaningful series of letters that can appear at the

beginning of an English word. That is in front of the rest of the word. Some

examples of prefixes in English include "IN," "TRI," and "under." "IN," is a prefix

that means NOT so if something is incorrect

it is not correct. If you have an inability to do something you are not

able to do it, and if something is incomplete it is not complete. "TRI," or

tri- is a prefix that means three of something so a triangle is an object

with three angles, a tripod is a stand with three legs, and a tricolor flag- you

guessed it it's flag with three colors. Now, the prefix

under that means below, so a submarine is an underwater vehicle which means it

goes under the water level. And if you under-cook your food,

that means you cook it below or less than the correct amount of time. And if

you underline a word, you put a line under the word. Okay, we'll have another

video later explaining more about prefixes if you want to learn more, but

let's see now how understanding prefixes can help us understand something and

anything. So first, there's a group of four prefix words that have related

meanings. That group includes the words: SOME, ANY, NO and EVERY. "No," is an easy one,

it's a prefix that means not or zero, none of something. "Every," is also easy, it

means all. Now let's look at some: some is a word that means an unspecified number

or quantity, or an unspecified identity. So, let's look at these examples: there are

some people in the room. I don't know how many. I need some money. I need money, but

I didn't say how much. The box has some toys in it. I don't know how many toys, or

I don't know which toys are in the box. You need some skill to accomplish this. I

don't say what specific skill you need or how much, just that you need some

skill. Next, let's look at ANY. "Any," is a word which means to a degree, or to an

extent. It can mean "one" it can mean "some," it could mean "every," it can mean "all," but it

depends on the context. But, it's never very specific. Notice, I said that in some

contexts, ANY can mean SOME. So, there is some overlap in meaning between those

two words. There will be sometimes where you can use either word, and it won't

change the meaning very much. So, let's think about some examples: we wouldn't

say there are any people in the room. We would have to use SOME for that one.

Meaning an unspecified number, but we could ask: Are there any people in the

room? In this case, we're asking about an unspecified amount. We can also say: We

need any people who can come. This is a case of ANY- meaning every or all without

being specific. Of the people who can come, any of them are people we need. But,

we wouldn't say: I need any money. Again, we would use some. I need some money: an

unspecified amount. But, we could say: I need any money

you have. Which would mean: of the money you have, I need some of it, or maybe even

all of it. I'm not being specific. We wouldn't say, the box has any toys in it.

Again, we would need to use SOME, an unspecified number or an unspecified

identity of toys. But, we could ask the question: Does the box have any toys in

it? So, one way to help think about the difference between SOME and ANY, is to

consider that some is about degree or identity, but the existence is kind of

assumed. With ANY, the existence is not assumed. That's why ANY is more common

with questions or also negative statements. For example, it's much more

common to ask: Does the box have any toys? The Box doesn't have any toys. There

isn't anybody here. I don't have any money.

Just like that. Now, let's apply those prefixes to the common general word in

English: "THING." We use this word to talk about an unspecified object, so when we add it

in, we have these words: "SOMETHING," "ANYTHING,"

"NOTHING," "EVERYTHING." "NOTHING," means no thing, "EVERYTHING," means all the things. So, let's

go back to our starting topic: what's the difference between "do you need something?"

And, "do you need anything?" With: do you need something? The idea can be that the

person probably does need something, but you don't know what. An unspecified

identity, or unspecified amount. That's the meaning of SOME. With: do you

need anything? The idea is probably that the person

could be need something or they could need nothing at all. "ANYTHING," is more

open to the idea that someone might need nothing. That's the idea of "ANY." So, with

questions like: do you need do you want something to eat?

Do you want anything to eat? With "something" you're thinking, maybe the

person does want something to eat, but you don't know what. With "anything," maybe

they're not hungry at all. That's why if you're flying on an airplane, or eating

in a restaurant, it's usually more polite for a server to ask you: do you need

anything? Do you want anything more to eat? When you're learning the feeling of

a language, it can be very helpful to consider different examples, So let's

take a look at some example sentences and try to think about whether you would

use the word "SOMETHING" or ANYTHING. Okay, first example: I don't have _______ to

drink. "Anything," would be the most normal here. I don't have anything to drink.

Meaning: I don't have a thing to drink. In English we don't usually use a negative

expression with NOTHING, so it would not be technically correct to say: I don't

have nothing to drink. Next example: I need _______ to eat.

"Something," would be the

most normal here. The idea is you need food, but the question is: what

specific food? I need something to eat. "Some," is a word about unspecified identity.

Next example, _______ in here smells awful. What is it?

"SOMETHING," is the most normal

here. Something in here smells awful. What is it? You know that there's a bad smel,l

the question is: what is causing it? Again, some is a word about an unspecified

identity. Next example: My team can't do ________ to win. The game is almost over.

"Anything," is the most normal here: My team can't do anything to win. "ANY," is a word

that specifies a degree or quantity, and in this case you're saying they cannot

do a thing. The words "can't do nothing," again would not be grammatically correct.

Notice though, that if we made this sentence positive we would actually use

the word NOTHING, instead of ANYTHING: my team can do nothing to win, versus my

team can't do anything to win. Both sentences have the same meaning in

English, but I think the second example is probably a little more common. Here's

another example: everyone must do ________ to help out.

we would use the word

"SOMETHING" here. Everyone must do something to help out. There is a thing

which should be done. The question is: What is it? It's something. Here's one

more example: What do you want to eat? _______ is fine.

"Anything," is most normal here. This is actually a common use of the word

"anything." We use it to mean that we don't mind, or we don't have a preference. A

thing of any kind is okay with us. What do you want to eat?

Anything is fine. You can use "ANY" words to indicate that you don't have a

particular preference. So, here are some other example sentences: What movie do

you want to see? Any movie is fine. Where do you want to go? Anywhere. Generally

speaking, "something" is more common in positive statements, and "anything" is more

common in questions and negative statements. Here's some good news.

There are several word families that use those same prefixes: SOME. ANY, EVERY, and

NO. So, once you understand how to use them for these words, you understand how

to use them for other words too. We looked at SOMETHING, ANYTHING, EVERYTHING, and NOTHING.

Now let's look at some bonus examples. Okay, so here's the bonus examples, just

take those same prefixes: some, any, know every, and attach them to different words.

Here's an example using "where" between a place: somewhere. I want to go somewhere

special for my birthday. "Anywhere," I don't want to go anywhere today. "Everywhere,"

Everywhere I go, people are talking in English. "Nowhere," We have nowhere to go

today. We can also attach the prefixes to the word "one," to mean a person an

unspecified person: "Someone," Can someone help me? "Anyone," I don't know anyone who

speaks English well. "Everyone," Everyone is here. Class can begin. "No one," No one is

here. We have to wait to begin class. We can even attach the prefixes to the word

"time" to mean an unspecified time. "Sometime or sometimes," Sometimes I feel very

sleepy at work. "Anytime," You can speak English anytime. "Everytime,"

Oh wait, we don't have that word. We actually have the word, "always" and it

means every time. "No time," again that word doesn't exist either, but we do have the

word "never" to mean no time. Let's look at a few more example sentences: Do you have

somewhere to go? No, I don't have anywhere to go.

Have you met everyone here? I haven't met anyone yet.

Let's meet sometime. That's fine, I can meet any time. Do you have something to

say? I have nothing to say. I don't have anything to say. Yes, I have something to

say. In fact, I have everything to say. Okay, that's the end of today's lesson.

Don't forget that if you want more practice, you can check out a free

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