English Language & Usage Asked on July 27, 2021
I am confused about the different usages of the word (any* depending on the particular circumstance, and would appreciate some clarification. For instance, if I make the statement
I would be implying that I have more chocolate than each and every one of you.
However, if I were to instead ask
I would be asking if even one of you has more chocolate than me.
Is it just the fact that I have phrased it as a question which makes the connotation different? Put differently, is there a systematic way to distinguish between the even one vs every one usage of any?
The first thing to know about any is that it's a Negative Polarity Item. That means it's got weird grammar and semantics, and is part of a lot of idioms, so one can't make assumptions about what it means. Negation is extremely complex.
The second thing to know about any is that it's a Quantifier, and works like other quantifiers in some ways. It doesn't do Q-Float, like each or all do:
And it alternates with some, and -- to the extent it has any meaning, which is not very much -- any has the same meaning as some, which is also a quantifier, but is not a negative polarity item and therefore can occur anywhere:
even when any would be allowed, as in a question:
There is no difference between these two questions, although some speakers and addressees may have their own conventions for using them -- and any associated intonations.
As for the examples in the question:
is a use of any in the negative context of the baseline for a comparative construction (identified by than, which occurs only in comparatives, and therefore marks negation).
The second example is ungrammatical, as noted. Corrected, it would be
which is a use of any in the negative environment of a question, like the some/any example above.
As soon as you notice that negatives keep popping up in example sentences, your first thought should be that there's an NPI involved.
Correct answer by John Lawler on July 27, 2021
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