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Some vs Any - English Grammar - Teaching Tips

 

Some and Any are two words that often cause confusion, which is why we have decided to take a closer look at the difference of the two words in this video. Firsly, some is a determiner used for positive statements while any is a determiner used in questions and negative statements. Consider the following situation: I asked the teacher if he could give me some paper. I said ‘Excuse me, have you got any paper?’ Unfortunately, he didn’t have any. The first statement is positive and therefore requires us to use some. The second sentence is a question and therefore, we need to use any. The third and final sentence is a negative statement which also requries us to use any. It's worth noting that we do sometimes use some in questions and we also use any in positive statements. For example, we use some in questions when making an offer or request Would you like some tea?. Alternatively, we use any in positive statements when it follows a word with a negative or limiting meaning We rarely have any problems with it. The best way to get comfortable with the usage is to listen to native speakers or read a lot of English text.


Below you can read feedback from an ITTT graduate regarding one section of their online TEFL certification course. Each of our online courses is broken down into concise units that focus on specific areas of English language teaching. This convenient, highly structured design means that you can quickly get to grips with each section before moving onto the next.

Unit 17 covered the use of teaching equipment and teaching aids. This includes the use of a white board, IWB, OHP, visual aids, worksheets, cassette recorder, CD player, DVD, video camera, course and resource books, computer, photocopier, and online resources. Of most interest to me was the suggested use of a video camera. I found the majority of the teaching equipment covered in this section to be logical and expected, however the use of a video recorder to generate personalized media is an idea I find very alluring for ESL learners.



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