Timeline for Can we say "there should be any problem"? [closed]
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
20 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 13, 2016 at 0:53 | history | closed |
herisson FumbleFingers Edwin Ashworth Drew ab2 |
Not suitable for this site | |
| Mar 12, 2016 at 20:35 | comment | added | Edwin Ashworth | Possible duplicate of Can I say "I'm glad I was of any help"? | |
| Mar 12, 2016 at 18:23 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | @BillJ: I didn't read most of the comments in full - after the first few I just did a search for the specific word polarity (first here, which found nothing, then across the whole site) because I knew I'd easily find one of several places where John Lawler made that point. I was actually thinking in terms of closevoting as a duplicate, but when I realised the first one I'd found was already closed, I just voted the same way here. | |
| Mar 12, 2016 at 18:06 | answer | added | Snoop | timeline score: 0 | |
| Mar 12, 2016 at 18:06 | comment | added | BillJ | @FumbleFingers You've repeated what I said about polarity. I think the OP understands it now. | |
| Mar 12, 2016 at 18:01 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | As John Lawler points out in this question closed as General Reference, Any is a Negative Polarity Item, and thus requires a negative context. It's still General Reference for ELU (but would be fine on English Language Learners). | |
| Mar 12, 2016 at 17:36 | comment | added | BillJ | @Sven Yargs Your expanded if example is also non-affirmative, and hence "any" is grammatically okay. That's the crucial point about "any" when used this way. Substituting "some" (which has a positive orientation) for "any" gives the grammatically okay There should be some problems. | |
| Mar 12, 2016 at 17:25 | comment | added | Sven Yargs | The wording "there should be any problem" can meaningfully appear as part of a longer "if" phrase: "If there should be any problem with the WaxMaster, call our tech support hotline." Because your question presents the wording in all-lowercase letters, it's impossible to tell whether you're asking if the sentence "There should be any problem" makes sense (it doesn't) or if the phrase "there should be any problem" can appear in a grammatically correct and meaningful sentence (it can). | |
| Mar 12, 2016 at 17:22 | comment | added | BillJ | Yes, it lacks a positive meaning; it's non-affirmative, so "any" works fine. | |
| Mar 12, 2016 at 17:18 | comment | added | john | if it said "there shouldnt be any problem" it would have been a negative sentence tho right??? | |
| Mar 12, 2016 at 16:50 | comment | added | BillJ | No, because it's a positive sentence, not a negative one. | |
| Mar 12, 2016 at 16:50 | comment | added | BillJ | No: determinative "any" when used this way is restricted to non-affirmative contexts like There aren't any problems, Your example is an affirmative one, so "any" is not possible, and in this instance it yields an ungrammatical sentence. | |
| Mar 12, 2016 at 16:40 | comment | added | john | why is it an affirmative example? because it says "should"? | |
| Mar 12, 2016 at 16:40 | review | Close votes | |||
| Mar 13, 2016 at 0:53 | |||||
| Mar 12, 2016 at 16:23 | comment | added | herisson | Questions of the form "is this a proper sentence" are not allowed on this site. You need to ask about some grammatical feature or word in the sentence. Since you haven't specified, I'm assuming you're mainly unsure about the use of the word any. So, I posted some links to other questions about the word any. If you are mainly concerned about another part of the sentence, please edit your question to specify this. | |
| Mar 12, 2016 at 16:20 | comment | added | john | what? ı dont understand what u said? All Im asking is " There should be any problem" is this a proper sentence? | |
| Mar 12, 2016 at 16:06 | comment | added | herisson | Relevant:Can I say “I'm glad I was of any help”?, Does it sound weird to say “ I hope I can be of any use (help) to you” in a cover letter?, Explain something: anything | |
| Mar 12, 2016 at 16:04 | review | First posts | |||
| Mar 12, 2016 at 16:18 | |||||
| Mar 12, 2016 at 16:03 | history | edited | herisson | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
edited title
|
| Mar 12, 2016 at 16:00 | history | asked | john | CC BY-SA 3.0 |