Saturday, January 30, 2010

English Usage - any.

When used as a pronoun, any can be used with either a singular or a plural verb, depending on the context. If any refers to a singular uncountable noun, the verb is always singular: we needed more sugar but there wasn’t any left. Uncertainty occasionally arises, however, when the noun referred to is plural, especially in questions and hypotheses: are any of the above suitable? If any of them escape, notify the police. The general tendency is to use the verb in the singular, you are presupposing that only one person or thing is being referred to, as in if any of them inspires the public . . . Otherwise, use with a singular verb is likely these days to sound stilted or affected.
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