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all vs. anything vs. everything



 
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ESL Forums | English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
Phrase "get on best with" | usage of "it" and "that"
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all vs. anything vs. everything Tue Feb 12, 2008 16:48 pm  all vs. anything vs. everything
 

Hello All.

Why cannot we not, specifically, use the third example?

I know everything about cars.
I know all about cars.
I know anything about cars.

Thanks
Molly
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all vs. anything vs. everything Wed Feb 13, 2008 14:49 pm  all vs. anything vs. everything
 

Hi Molly,

"anything" usually occurs in negative sentences, questions or as an indefinite pronoun.
e.g: Do you know anything about cars?
I don't know anything about cars.
That's what I think Smile
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all vs. anything vs. everything Wed Feb 13, 2008 20:49 pm  all vs. anything vs. everything
 

Juliana Melo wrote:
Hi Molly,

"anything" usually occurs in negative sentences, questions or as an indefinite pronoun.
e.g: Do you know anything about cars?
I don't know anything about cars.
That's what I think Smile

I know the classroom "rule", but why, specifically, can we not use "anything", there?
Molly
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all vs. anything vs. everything Thu Feb 14, 2008 10:01 am  all vs. anything vs. everything
 

Perhaps noone will give you a satisfying reason why. Learning language is more about abiding by rules than logic.
Just change something in your native language so it will sound weird, and try to explain why you can't say that. In most cases you will run up against a brick wall Smile
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all vs. anything vs. everything Thu Feb 14, 2008 11:38 am  all vs. anything vs. everything
 

Hi Molly,

On its own in your sentence 'anything' simply has no meaning because you don't what the speaker/writer does know.

Alan
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all vs. anything vs. everything Sun Feb 17, 2008 14:18 pm  all vs. anything vs. everything
 

Alan wrote:
Hi Molly,

On its own in your sentence 'anything' simply has no meaning because you don't what the speaker/writer does know.

Alan

I see. So "any" does not always have the meaning "all" or "none", right?
Molly
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Joined: 12 Feb 2008
Posts: 3822

all vs. anything vs. everything Sun Feb 17, 2008 14:25 pm  all vs. anything vs. everything
 

Quote:
Perhaps noone will give you a satisfying reason why. Learning language is more about abiding by rules than logic.

I disagree, but that's another conversation.

The simplified rule, if it is a rule, of "use some in positives and any in questions and negatives" cannot account for the second example from each pair below:

I like some pop music.
I like any pop music.

I don't like any pop music.
I don't like some pop music.

All those examples are grammatical, so where does that leave the above "rule"?

If you know of a rule that covers all uses of some and any, please post it.
Molly
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Joined: 12 Feb 2008
Posts: 3822

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Phrase "get on best with" | usage of "it" and "that"
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