This is an All-Ears English Podcast episode 22-05.
Went to you someone versus anyone in English.
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You hear native speakers using someone, anyone, and something, and anything all of the time.
But do you know, and to choose between each word, find out one key point to keep in mind when you
make your choice in today's episode.
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Hey Lindsay, how are you?
Excellent, Michelle. I'm feeling great today. How are you? How's everything?
Everything is good. Everything is good. Did you call anyone on the phone this morning?
Oh no, too early to get on the phone.
No, no, maybe later today I'll get on the phone. We'll see.
Today we are going to answer a really important listener question dealing with what I just asked you.
We're going to share that question with you in just a second.
But guys, we want to remind you, if you haven't hit that follow button or wherever you're listening
to all your English, please hit it now so you never miss anything from us.
You got it. Hit follow guys right now.
So we started off. You asked me, did you call anyone on the phone?
And I said, no, I didn't call anyone. So it sounds like we're getting into anyone, maybe someone,
all of these interesting words. Should I go ahead and read the question, Michelle?
Please. All right, this is from Jessica H. Corona.
And Jessica says, when should we use someone something and anyone anything and a question?
Do you have something to say or do you have anything to say?
Oh, are you seeing someone or are you seeing anyone?
Oh, this is a good question, Michelle. I like it.
Yeah, yeah, this is getting into the nitty gritty.
There is so much to these indefinite pronouns, but this is, it's great to focus on these
questions specifically. So I'm excited. Guys, also another episode, if you haven't listened to
already, 2188 was the same name, how to connect over this commonality. And that was a really fun
episode. Yeah. So what? So the main thing that we need to keep in mind, let's go broad.
Just broad. The one most important thing our listeners need to know is what, Michelle, there's
one distinction between someone something versus anyone anything.
All right, it's about how specific you are. So someone or something is a little bit more specific,
but still not completely specific. And well, guys, don't worry. We'll be doing examples.
Yeah. Whereas anyone or anything is less specific.
Interesting. Okay. So that's good to know. So is there anything we any little pneumatic,
pneumonic device we can use to help remembering, help to remember, Michelle?
Yeah. If you need help remembering this, you can think of S for someone or something so you can
think specific. So that could be a good way to remember it. But let's go through the listeners
example first. So there was, do you have something to say? Okay. So this sounds more like you think
the person will say something. So maybe they started to talk and you interrupted them.
And you got some sign that they have an opinion on something. Whatever it could be.
Versus anything. What do you think about that? More broad.
Right. It's a less specific. Maybe someone's been quiet the whole class and you want them to
speak up. Right. Maybe you are giving them an opportunity to talk. Oh, you've been quiet.
Do you have anything to say? Do you have anything to add to our conversation?
Yeah. Exactly. So yeah, let's do a couple examples of this. So we're in a meeting here.
We're doing lots of role plays today. So here we go. Okay. So yeah. Oh, let's get to, oh, I'm
sorry, Michelle. Do you have something to say? Okay. So you kind of interrupted me and you
realized, oh wait, you were starting to say something. So you said, do you have something to say?
Yeah. So that was an interruption. So you were uttering something and I interrupted you and
then I'm switching back and I'm saying, did you have something to say or do you have something to say?
By the way, Michelle, speaking of a little bit of a grammar tangent, I could have said,
did you have something to say? Correct. Could I have said that? Yeah, right. You could have said
that too. Yeah. Did you have something to say? That might even be a little bit more natural sounding.
Right. I agree. I agree because we've done other episodes on why you might slip into the past tense
in scenarios like this. It might be a little more polite. That's an interesting. We'll go to that
another day guys. I'll follow on the show. Let's do another example though about anything.
Okay. I'd really love your feedback. Yeah. So do you have anything to say?
I'm thinking. So here, the vibe is a little different. There's not much coming from my
end at all. Right? I'm quiet. And you want me to say something, but I haven't said much yet.
It's not like you're interrupting me like you did in the first one. Yeah. Right. So,
so okay, specific and more broad. We have to keep these things in mind. So the next example from
the listener was, are you seeing someone and seeing Lindsay? What would that mean? Are you seeing
someone? Does that mean you're actually seeing like physically being someone from my window? No,
dating them. It really is exclusively means that to be seeing someone is dating someone.
Okay. Right. Exactly. So if you say, are you seeing someone? It's a little more specific. Maybe
you think they are. Maybe you're not sure. But what about are you seeing anyone? Are you seeing
anyone? It's more general. And you have no idea what the answer is. Right. And this is very subtle.
Here, especially in this example, isn't it, Michelle? Yes. Yes. It goes back. It's very subtle.
But we're going to give you some examples so you can see how this would work. Yeah. Okay. This
will be interesting. Here we go. So I saw you got, I saw you got the flowers sent to you. Oh,
yeah, I did. So are you seeing someone? Maybe. Oh my goodness. Give me details. Yeah. So, all right.
So here we are being more specific because I see that you got flowers. So in my mind, that means
you're probably dating someone. So that's why I used the someone we're zooming in to the likelihood
that you are dating someone. Right. Exactly. Exactly. So let's try this with anyone. So here we go.
Have you been? Good. You. I'm good. Thanks. So are you seeing anyone?
No, I'm taking a break from dating these days. I totally get it. All right. So here,
we hadn't been talking about dating. So I have no idea whether it's much more neutral.
Yeah. Right. So it's more broad. Yeah. Wow. Settle. More examples. Michelle, do we have them?
I know our listeners love examples. We got this episode as full of them. The whole of it. Wow.
If you look at the whole plan, it's lots of lots of acting, lots of roleplay. Lots of examples. Okay. Yes.
All right. Here we go. I'm heading to the sandwich shop down the street. Do you want anything?
Sure. I'll get a smoothie. All right. So why did we use anything there?
Because it could be anything, not a sandwich. It could be just very general. Like do one. Anything.
This is kind of example of where it could be both, right? Or here's another one. I'm heading
to the sandwich shop down the street. Do you want something? Oh, yes. Get me my regular sandwich,
please. I feel like we could we could use both interchangeably here. Yes. So this is a little bit.
Doesn't it? Yes. That's what I wrote. I mean, exactly. There's not always one answer that is
completely correct. I mean, correct or incorrect. So sometimes it's a little interchangeable. So I
wanted to show you how that could happen. If if I was trying to dissect it a little bit, I might
say, uh-huh. Where are you saying do you want anything? Sounds there's many things we could get
from the shop. Yeah. And where you said, do you want something? I said, yeah, I got me my regular
sandwich. Maybe you know that I'm going to want the sandwich. I don't know. But it's it's really
that one is not as big of a difference. It's really not. Let's go into another one. We're just
full of example today. Here we go. All right. Did you see someone drop a package off at my front door?
Yeah. Was it a blonde woman? Yes. Blunt. Oh, okay. Good. That's my new computer.
Nice. See someone. Okay. More specific. Someone is a little more specific. You're looking for a
specific person that's going to drop off that computer. Okay. Yes. Versus. Versus. Did you see anyone drop
a package off at my front door? Yeah. I did. Oh, good. I was expecting a package. Now here, you
don't really know exactly who it's going to be. But someone is going to be dropping it off.
It's a little more broad. Right. And again, this is a very subtle difference. I mean, you could
switch it up but there sometimes there is just one that sounds slightly more correct. Yeah.
In this one, it makes sense because in the first one, I'm saying someone and it sounds like I know
who it is. Agreed. Here we go. Let's come into a big role play to bring it all together. Now,
Michelle. So here we are roommates and we're moving. We're trying to figure out moving day, which is
oh, it logistics of moving day. It can't be. Not fun. No, here we go. Here we go. Do you know anyone
who can help us move that day? I think so. Is it someone who's free all day? Yeah. I think my
brother will be around. Oh, perfect. Do we need to ask the landlord anything about rules of moving
out? We probably should. Did you get something from the previous tenants about that? Oh, yes.
They left a sheet of paper about it. I'll take a look. Thanks.
All right. So we've got someone, anyone, someone, something a lot of things going on.
And so let's bring it back to the beginning. So here, Michelle, you said, do you know anyone who
can help us move that day? That's very broad, isn't it? It's very broad. It could be anyone. You
know, this is just general. You know anyone? Not just anybody. You know anyone? And then you said,
I think so. So now I zero in because now we are getting a little more specific. And I said,
is it someone who is free all day? And in here, it wouldn't make sense to say, is it anyone who's
free all day? No, because we are zeroing in. So here's where that does make sense. Right? Zooming
in more specifically someone. Right? Yep. And then what did you say next? I said, do we need to
ask the landlord anything about rules of moving out? And here, something also would not make sense.
Do we need to ask the landlord something? That sounds like there's something very specific that
I need to ask the landlord about. I don't know what I need to know. Right? We don't know what we don't
know. So it's anything exactly. And then I said, did you get something from the previous tenants
about that? So I could have said anything there you could have made. I could have. But here it
sounds more like I think that maybe we did get something like or I could have said didn't didn't
you get something from the previous tenants. Oh, that would definitely would be something. You
would never say didn't you get anything? No way because you're zooming in. I thought you got
something from the previous tenants. Didn't you? Right? Right. Yeah. So and you said, oh, yes,
I left a sheet of paper. I'll take a look. So, woo. This is a really good play here. I really
like this last role play because it shows the way when it's interchangeable and when it's not.
Guys, so go and go back to this episode again. Play it again. Listen to the role play. I wouldn't say
this is easy, but I would say in many cases, you can't go wrong. In many cases, focus on connection
as we always say on the show. Right? Don't stress out. Don't stress out about this. But we
we now have, you know, and there could be, I'm sure we could do a follow up on even more ways and
get into all the Dineg Ready parts of the grammar and everything one you would and one it but
the main idea here that we want you to walk away with is that someone is a little bit more specific,
right? With the S. So, yeah, good, good. Turn remember that. Yeah. And now what I would do,
guys, go out into the world and listen for how native speakers use anyone, someone,
try to make that connection in your head. And then you'll start to use it naturally and correctly.
And again, always focus on that human connection moment. That is the key. It's not about the words we
choose. It's not about the perfect grammar. It's about the connection that you want to create with
the person in front of you, right? Michelle? Absolutely. I love it. So, yeah, the takeaway,
you know, and many times like we said, these are interchangeable. We gave you some ideas to think
about it. And yeah, definitely go back. Listen to these role plays, practice them. See if you can
write some of your own. See how you how you could fit it in and to see if you can play that
game and because it was kind of fun writing these. Yeah. So if you could actually, that's a really good
way to practice, right? Your own role play. If you do write your own play role play, feel free to,
you can send it to me. It's Michelle and all using lish.com. I want to check it out. Maybe we'll
know. Maybe we'll use your role play in an episode in a follow up episode. Who knows, right? Love it.
Never enough. Okay. Well, this was so much fun, Lindsey. And thanks for that listener to Jessica
for that question. That was a fun one. All right. Michelle, I'll talk to you soon. Have a good one.
Thanks. See you. Bye. Bye.
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