Singular or Plural?
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- lbhatters
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Singular or Plural?
I found this statenent online.
"Any – means one of a group and it doesn’t matter which one you choose.
Every – means all of the group.
For example:
Every student wrote five essays. (Means all the students completed the task)
Did any student write five essays? (Means has at least one student written five essays, it doesn’t matter which specific student).
However, remember that both any and every refer to a single item of a list and hence are treated as singular.
HAS any student done the home work.
Every student HAS done the work.
Contrast it with: All students HAVE done the work. (All – makes it plural while both any and every are singular)."
http://www.bodhisutra.com/question/the- ... and-every/
Also,
"The American Heritage Dictionary says:
When used as a pronoun, any can take either a singular or plural verb, depending on how it is construed: Any of these books is suitable (that is, any one). But are any (that is, some) of them available?"
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.englis ... np/amp.htm
Based on this, the sentence, "Any changes (plural) he says begins with you and me, since statistically it's likely anyone at all reading his book is in this category of the politically uncommitted" would be correct in American English (not talking about British English), because "any changes" would be considered a group and therefore treated as singular. Any comments?
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This, plus the one stated above are really good references for the "any: usage. Thanks!jgraney8 wrote: ↑09 May 2018, 22:35 For any, it depends on what any refers to. By that I mean, when any refers to a countable noun, i.e., one that has a plural form like books, the verb will be plural or without an -s ending. In contrast, when any refers to an uncountable noun like sand or water, the verb will be singular or with an s ending.
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