2

I have a grammar question that I'm having a hard time finding a good answer to.

The word "any" is quite a versatile and ambiguous word that could mean one item, multiple items, all the way up to "every" item, depending on the sentence.

I'm specifically curious about the usage of the word with imperative verbs.

Here are some examples:

  • Take any card that is a club.
  • Take any card from this deck.
  • Take any plate that has a cutlery bundle on it so that we can serve ourselves food.

The question is: do these sentences refer to taking a single item, or do they allow for taking multiple items? Does the first sentence mean

  • Take just one club from the pack, or does it mean
  • [You may] take all 13 clubs?

I lean towards the former, because I think the singular "card" with the imperative verb tense does tell them to take a card, singular.

EDIT: I believe this question is different because it deals with a more specific context. I found that answer, but it didn't answer my question surrounding the imperative commands.

As I already edited: this question is not a duplicate. The other question did not answer this question directly.

Improve this question
12
  • You take a single item from a group of items. Take any question on ELU and answer it. The imperative has nothing to do with it.
    – Lambie
    Commented Jul 15 at 17:38
  • 1
    Sure, but "any" could mean multiple sometimes. For example "admit any person that has a ticket"
    – user522546
    Commented Jul 15 at 17:40
  • No, any person is a single person. out of all the ones who show up. However, there could be many in that category.
    – Lambie
    Commented Jul 15 at 17:42
  • But I do think there is a difference in the imperative and other sentences. "Discard any card" is different from "Any card that falls on the floor is discarded"
    – user522546
    Commented Jul 15 at 17:53
  • 2
    @user522546 Right. If you meant to allow multiple cards, you would say "Take any cards".
    – Barmar
    Commented Jul 15 at 18:14

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
5

It depends on the context.

In the common magician instruction:

Take any card and remember what it is.

it's usually interpreted as singular, equivalent to "Take a card". You would use the plural "cards" if you meant to suggest that multiple cards could be selected.

On the other hand

Remove any card that's torn from the deck.

actually means that every torn card should be removed.

I don't think there's any simple grammatical rule that can be used to determine which case is intended. We determine it from the logic of the situation.

For instance,

Go any time you want.

is ambiguous. If "go" refers to leaving the current place, it's singular because you can only leave once. But if you're talking about going to someplace, you can do this repetitively, so this may be plural. In the latter case, you could make it more explicit by saying "any times", but this will often not be necessary.

Improve this answer
10
  • Actually, these examples make the problem of the different readings clearer than the answer at the duplicate. Can you add an example which is indeterminate?
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Jul 15 at 18:24
  • I'm not sure what would be a good example. Maybe only intangibles like "idea"? Do you have a suggestion?
    – Barmar
    Commented Jul 15 at 18:27
  • This is why I asked about the imperative tense specifically.
    – user522546
    Commented Jul 15 at 18:31
  • 2
    As I said, it depends onthe context. If you know that the goals is to have a clean deck of cards, you're obviously expected to remove all the broken cards.
    – Barmar
    Commented Jul 15 at 18:47
  • 2
    'Go any time you want.' Without context, this could be semelfactive or iterative. // 'We don't need to do any more today, and I know you have to meet Billy. Go any time you want.' // 'You're always welcome to use the holiday cottage. Go any time you want.'
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Jul 15 at 22:27
0

I've seen this previously answered here:

"Any" followed by singular or plural countable nouns?

This is what comes from looking in dictionaries and usage books for grammar information. It's not there, sorry. And that's not how any works. It can modify either plural count nouns or singular mass nouns, which means that any singular noun modified by any is automatically interpreted as a mass noun. That's what happens to idea; it is interpreted as meaning 'thought; mentation'. This is not all that surprising, since, while idea is usually a count noun, it is hard to distinguish an idea from some idea. Ideas are not notably countable. – John Lawler

CommentedMay 2, 2013 at 0:47

Improve this answer
3
  • 1
    I'm not sure if I agree with this answer "any singular noun modified by any is automatically interpreted as a mass noun." I think it depends on the sentence.
    – user522546
    Commented Jul 15 at 17:52
  • 1
    The examples are count nouns.
    – Lambie
    Commented Jul 15 at 17:54
  • This is a different question. If it were a duplicate, it would be wrong to answer it, especially with an answer imported from the duplicate.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Jul 15 at 18:20

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .