This is the Business English Podcast, Episode 258.
Don't let this grammar throw you off anymore.
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Hey Aubrey, I have a question for you today.
Oh yeah, let's hear it. All right, let's dive in.
So what is something that you don't do anymore?
Oh, I don't play softball anymore. I used to love softball.
Yes, I tried to play a couple of Saturdays ago and I think I pulled a quad.
I've stretched before. I'm just too old.
Like the sprinting to first base. I just can't do it anymore.
But I did discover something called OTL softball here in the States and which is a different version where there's no base running.
It's just sort of batting and fielding. And now I'm obsessed.
That's my new sport. Oh, I love that. I love that.
OK, good. Bringing your original sport back.
I love it. Good. I'm glad you asked me this, though, because errors are often made with this word anymore by language learners.
We use it all the time in emails, on phone calls, in conversations at work, but we see errors and these are high stakes errors where it can really create confusion and we want you to be able to avoid that confusion. exactly so a lot of our listeners we know you guys are at that b2 level that upper intermediate level so at this level we definitely want to wipe out this mistake right aubry and speaking of b2 fluency we this week are releasing a new course we're super excited about this yes this is an amazing course we have interviewed native english speakers there's so much great grammar pronunciation so much to learn i can't wait to launch this course I'm excited.
So guys, you want to keep your eye out because it is going to be a limited release where you're going to get a special deal.
I can't tell you what it is exactly now, but you just listen on the podcast, go to the website, allersenglish.com or make sure you're on our email list and you will hear about this course and how to get the special offer.
But get excited. I mean, it's based on interesting conversations, Aubrey.
Right. That is the core of this course is interesting conversations with native speakers.
Yeah. Yes. I was able to interview my someone that I met not too long ago, Orla from Ireland, who is one of the most interesting people I've ever met.
I cannot wait for you to hear the interview with her and learn so much from her.
It's amazing. Yeah, think about it. It's like our listeners, our students now get to meet the people in our lives that we think are interesting people, super interesting people.
You guys get to meet them now in this B2 course.
So more coming on that very soon, but listen in and pay attention to this channel this week.
All right. All right. Let's dive in here.
We're going to share sort of specifically one of the mistakes that's made, especially with speaking and in emails with the word anymore.
And it's just sort of not understanding exactly what anymore means.
Someone might say we're not using that contract anymore when what they mean is we are no longer using that contractor on this project or at this time.
And that can really create a confusion on what exactly the plan is.
OK, so and we need to know what the plan is.
We need to make sure we're clear. So should we do a little role play of the confusion that comes up from the error being made?
Let's do it. I'll start it out. We're not using that vendor anymore.
Oh, really? Oh, I thought we were using them on the next few projects.
Yes, we are. Just not for this project. Oh, wait.
You said you're you said we're not using them anymore.
So I thought you meant something happened and we stopped using them entirely. sorry for the confusion.
We're just not using them this time. So you can see how right at the top where I said, you know, we're not using that vendor anymore.
What that indicates is never again, no longer, right?
It's something that's final and stopped.
And if what you intend to say is we are not going to use that vendor this time, but maybe in the future you wouldn't want to use the word anymore.
Interesting. Very good point, right? It's a subtle mistake, but it's actually a mistake that could have repercussions. at work that we want to make sure that we know we know what's actually going on.
Imagine that person emails that vendor and saying we will no longer be needing your services at any time in the future.
Like, oh, no, that's not what we meant. No, not good.
So we're going to dove into this today, right?
Yes. And we're going to share, you know, about this adverb anymore with examples so you can use it confidently at work.
But we're also going to share a common mistake that's made by both native speakers and language learners. because anymore also exists in English as a determiner that is two words.
So very common error. We're going to share both so you can avoid both of these very common mistakes.
Okay, so first we're going to talk about anymore as an adverb, right Aubrey?
So let's go into that. So this is the one that we talked about in the role play.
Any longer, right? Any further extent, correct?
Exactly. For example, You know, I don't need a ride home anymore.
I have to stay late to finish a project, which means I no longer need a ride home.
And I'm talking about today. So even here, it's tricky because unless I had that second sentence, the person might be saying like, you mean never again?
Like we usually carpool. You don't want to ride ever again.
But where I'm saying I don't need to ride home anymore.
I have to stay late today. Then it's clear from context that I'm talking about today.
Yeah, you should give that context, right?
Because if you just say, I don't need a ride home anymore, maybe you're giving me a ride every week and I'm quitting the extra credit class or something, right?
Right. They might think you mean forever.
Yeah, and then they don't show up next week to bring you, so not good.
Or we aren't working with Johnson Brothers anymore.
We've decided to go in another direction.
Now, this means in general, forever. Exactly.
The other way to say that would be we are no longer working with Johnson Brothers.
And you can see how that second sentence gives you just a little more context.
We've decided to go in another direction.
So we're not talking about just on this project, but we might use them in the future.
We're giving enough context to let everyone know that we're saying this is final.
And I do think we're no longer working with XYZ contractor sounds more professional to me than saying anymore.
Anymore is fine. It's kind of neutral, but it's everyday language.
It's not necessarily office specific language.
Don't you think? Right. It does. It's a little up level, then it's clearer, right?
It's really interesting how, when you say anymore, it might be just a little like, I need a follow up question.
Do you mean just now or forever? Whereas no longer is clearer.
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Exclusions apply, see details online. Okay, Aubrey, we are back with any more as two words.
Yes, this is a determiner for quantities.
So this error only exists in writing because when you're speaking, they sound the same.
You don't have to stress about it at all on phone calls when you're speaking, but it's a very common error on emails.
Both native speakers and language learners make this mistake a lot.
So just really quick grammar details. A determiner is a modifying word, the same as like the, every, or a.
It's giving you an idea of the quantity of how much we have of the noun.
All right. So let's throw out some examples to make it super clear.
So I don't have any more meetings today.
So we're not making that one word like the adverb.
We're not saying anymore. We're saying any more.
But when we say it, it sounds the same as what you're saying.
Right. Exactly. It sounds exactly the same when we say it.
But because we're talking about the quantity of meetings, it would be two words.
I don't have any more meetings today. We would write it as two words.
Yeah. And you could, you could, could you say, I don't have more meetings today?
It feels a little awkward, but basically it's the same thing.
It does. It means the same for both. We're going to have another example.
And for both of these, you could just use more.
It's slightly more formal to say, I don't have more meetings today.
I don't, you know, just adding that any is the tiniest bit more informal, but they mean the same thing.
Yeah. That's interesting. Anything else we need to know here for this one?
Yeah. Another good example is, is there any more printer paper?
And of course, you could just say, is there more printer paper?
It's very native and natural to say any more as the determiner.
You'll hear both. This is very, you absolutely should use it.
But just that tiniest little bit of an error to avoid in emails when you're wanting your emails to be polished and professional.
When we're talking about, this is our pro tip.
If you're talking about a quantity, then it's two words, any more.
Yes, I love that. And then there's other things we could do, which we could explore in a different episode, especially if you guys hit follow so you don't miss it.
You could also say, is there additional printer paper?
Is there any additional printer paper? There's other words we could use.
We'll talk about those another day. Or you could say, is there no more printer paper?
When we say it that way, it's sort of more like being surprised and shocked about something.
It's interesting how all of these little different determiners sort of change your meaning a tiny bit.
Oh yeah, there's a lot behind our words.
That's why we always talk about connection, making sure that we understand what's behind our words and how that's helping us or hurting us in our relationships, business, life, that kind of thing.
So Aubrey, shall we do a role play? What do you think?
Yeah, let's do it. You and I are arriving at work at the same time in this role play.
I'll start us out. Ready? Yeah. Hey there, did you park in the garage?
Yeah, I don't park outside anymore. It's too hot when I leave.
You have to have a space assigned to you though.
Ah, gotcha. Do you know if there are any more left?
I think so. I'll mention it to Susie. I've started carpooling with her.
She gets better gas mileage, so I don't drive anymore at all.
Nice. Okay. Very common. And we want to show you guys how to have those conversations as you're walking in from the parking garage, not just in the meeting, but these are the moments that build your professional relationships, right?
Absolutely. It would be strange when you're maybe entering an elevator or a staircase at the same time to ignore some you work closely with.
You got to strike up about a conversation about something.
This is great. Oh, did you park in the garage?
Oh, did you park outside? Sure. You got to say something.
That's right. You have to say something.
Don't say nothing, right? That's the worst thing you could do because we relate through words, right?
That's how, you know, silence, at least in American business culture, there's less of a vibe towards silence, more towards connection through verbal interaction.
Yeah, exactly. The friendly thing to do is to say something.
Ask about their weekend. Ask where they parked.
It can be anything. Ask how their family is because likely you've had those personal conversations already with coworkers when you're, you know, walking into work or at lunch.
So, yeah, you want to strike up a conversation.
There's lots of options. And by the way, I think it's important to note and we can go to this another day, but that also goes for your superiors.
Let's say you run into the boss of your boss.
It's still OK. I mean, the content is going to be a little different, but having a conversation about how is your commute, something like that. would be fine and acceptable i'm not sure if it would be all over the world so it's the cultural piece that we need to know yeah how was traffic you could ask anyone that's a really good point so let's go through this oh yeah do another day yeah so many good episodes we always have lots of good episode ideas for the future so be sure to hit follow guys so you don't miss any of them all right cool so let's go through it so here i said yeah i don't park out you said hey did you park and you said hey there which by the way is casual right which indicates that what kind of on a similar level or we're friends at work, maybe that kind of thing.
And then I said, yeah, I don't park outside anymore.
It's too hot when I leave. Yeah. So this is that adverb, right?
Anymore is describing the verb here. You don't do it any longer.
I no longer park outside is what this means.
And because we're having a conversation, you don't have to worry at all about whether it's one word or two.
But if you were writing it in an email, this one would be one word.
I don't park outside anymore. Mm-hmm. Love that.
And then you said, ah, gotcha. Do you know if there are any more left?
And what's the any more? What are we counting here?
Yeah, I'm asking about these parking spaces, right?
They say, well, you have to have a parking space assigned if you want to park in the garage.
So I'm asking, do you know if there are any more left?
And because the noun is clear, I don't have to say, do you know if there are any more parking spaces left?
We just replace that with this quantifier.
Do you know if there are any more? I love it.
And then you said, I'll mention it to Susie.
I started carpooling with her and she gets better gas mileage.
So I don't drive anymore at all. And that was the first instance.
The adverb, exactly. One word, I don't drive anymore.
There's no quantity here. We're describing the verb, the drive.
I don't drive any longer. I no longer drive.
So it's one word, anymore. The only one in this role play that's two words is the, do you know if there are any more?
The quantity of parking spaces, that would be written as two words.
Love it. Super important to move up to that higher level of English, that 99% fluency.
What's the takeaway today, Aubrey? You can't avoid this word anymore.
You never could, right? We use it all the time at work, both as an adverb and as a determiner.
So today's tips can really help you avoid these common errors in emails with writing or with the meaning of the word anymore so that you can really impress with your business emails.
Yes, guys, let's clean up these errors if you're still making them.
Now is the time to focus in on these errors at that intermediate to advanced level and let's uplevel our business English game.
Good stuff. Aubrey, thanks for being on the mic today.
Awesome. Thanks. See you next time. All right.
Have a nice day. Bye. You too. Bye. Thank you. tap the link in the show notes.
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