There is some difference or no difference, but not any difference

What is the difference?

How to account for the difference in use of some X and any X? Both seem to refer to members of the X set without identifying them, but some X implies X which are of interest exist, while any X doesn’t1.

I think there is a parallel with a X and the X. Some X and any X don’t identify the members of the X set which are of interest, but a X and the X do. The X implies that the identified member of the set of X is already considered a member of the different(?) set of topics under discussion. A/an introduces that member to that set.

This difference between a X and the X can be described perhaps as

Let’s call this difference instantiating. An instance of X, a member of the X set is inserted into a sentence with information relevant to them.

The same difference describes the relationship between some and any? Some picks out members of the X set and in an expression posits information about them2, kind of instantiating them. Any just indicates members of the X set are pickable, but are not actually picked.

Table: The correspondence of some/any with a/the
\ identifying not identifying
instantiating a some
not instantiating the any

Analysis of some naturally-occurring examples

Calling on students

Ben Stein according to https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2025/03/04/ferris-bueller-tariffs-scene-trump/81336305007/ sought a student response, with, Anyone? Anyone?.

In a class, I would say, Someone? Anyone? No one? The first with the expectation there would be a response, the second without that expectation, the third with the expectation that there would be no response.

This can be regarded as a kind of instantiating.

When somewhere and anywhere are different places

The difference between somewhere and anywhere is discussed at https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/19364/difference-between-somewhere-and-anywhere/19371#19371 with the examples,

        “It may be anywhere in this room,”

(but not. “* It is anywhere in this room,” )

and

        “It may be somewhere in this room,”
Scenarios explaining the somewhere/anywhere difference

When would these 2 different sentences be used?

Consider the scenario of a search being carried out of a room for something which is believed to be in the room, but which is not immediately visible, creating a problem. For example, the FBI goes to Mar-a-Lago and enters Trump’s office looking for a letter from Kim Jong-un, or in an evil maid attack a Saudi spy enters Jeff Bezos’ hotel room to plant malware on his phone while he is with Lauren Sanchez in another room in the hotel. Both the FBI and the Saudi spy believe what they’re looking for is in the room, but that they’re going to have to search everywhere in the room to find it. They say, expressing the problem they face,

        “It may be anywhere in this room,”

meaning it is in the room, somewhere in the room, but that they don’t know where in the room, and that this is a problem.

Now suppose the FBI and the Saudi spy aren’t able to find what they’re looking for. The FBI has information Trump has stored boxes in a bathroom, and the Saudi spy realizes there is a second room in Bezos’ hotel suite. So, they go to this second place, and say, expressing hope they will find what they’re looking for in this other room,

        “It may be somewhere in this room,”

But this doesn’t mean they believe it is in the room. It means they know it may also not be in the room, ie, not anywhere in the room, but that it is possible they may find it if they look everywhere in the room.

Analysis of difference

Tricky. In interaction with the modal may, some/any refer with the same meaning to unspecified possible places in some space to communicate different interpretations of this inability to specify place.

In the case of somewhere, a hope, a possibility, a positiveness. Can this be called instantiation?

In the case of anywhere, a disappointment, a problem, a negativeness. Is this un-instantiation?

Drawing conclusions leaving details unspecified

Scene: A car at the bottom of a cliff, with blood splattered everywhere

Bystander: Was there anyone in the car?
Police: No, Einstein.

Bystander: Someone was in the car?
Police: Yes, Sherlock.

In the first case, the police sarcastically give a false answer because Einstein should have expected the answer would be yes.

In the second case, the police’s Yes answer is not sarcastic, but calling them Sherlock disparages their powers of observation, because Sherlock’s tentativeness using a question to hedge their conclusion is unwarranted.

Analysis of difference

Anyone in a Yes/No question makes no assumption about there being any instance of persons in a car.

Someone in a declarative question (rising declarative) assumes/expects someone was in the car.

This is closer to instantiation.

Unresponsiveness to the distinction

After the bystanders, students from a detective academy arrive on a field trip.

Instructor: It is your task to learn about the occupants of the car.

Do you use someone or anyone.

Someone? Anyone?

Students: [crickets]
Analysis of difference

It is your task to determine how this scenario relates to the difference. Does anyone3 want to take this responsibility on?

The distinction in requests

To a first approximation, some is OK mostly everywhere, but any only in negative statements, modal and conditional clauses and questions, ie not in positive statements.

And in https://cygwin.com/pipermail/cygwin/2026-January/259210.html, a response to a bug report:

Thanks for the report and the test case.  I looked into the issue and found the cause. I also confirmed that the patch attached solves the issue.

Could anyone please review the patch?

anyone is in a question, but it should be,

Could someone please review the patch?

or

Could people please review the patch?

Why is that? On the other hand,

Does anyone want to review the patch?

is OK, because the answer is Yes/No. The answer to the first question is different. It’s OK/Sorry. The first question is a request and expresses hope/expectation, so anyone is not OK?

Could X please .. puts X on notice they are being requested to do something, and you can’t make a request if you aren’t putting anyone on notice. Using anyone is not putting anyone on notice?

Analysis of difference

An addressee is a core element in a request https://framenet.icsi.berkeley.edu/frames/Request

So one needs to be instantiated with some rather than any.

A and the also.

The argument is that instantiation is a good way of conceptualizing a and the as well

Me at

Back to WobblyEnglish

  1. some isn’t formal? I always change some to a a number of, editing academic papers.↩︎

  2. some X by default refers to more than one X, but in some circumstances it may refer to only one, eg someone/somebody and for some value of the function.↩︎

  3. anyone seems more natural than someone, which indicates desperation, rather than expectation, perhaps.↩︎