Collins Cobuild

Unit 30
Quantity 2
Main points
You use ‘some’ to talk about a quantity or number without being
precise.
You use ‘any’ to talk about a quantity or number that may or may
not exist.
You  use  ‘another’,  or  ‘another’  and  a  number,  to  talk  about
additional people or things.
You use ‘each’ and ‘every’ to talk about all the members of a group
of people or things.
1
You use ‘some’ with uncount nouns and plural nouns to talk about a
quantity of something or a number of people or things without being
precise.
I have left some food for you in the fridge.
Some trains are running late.
You normally use ‘some’ in affirmative sentences.
There’s some chocolate cake over there.
I had some good ideas.
You use ‘some’ in questions when you expect the answer to be ‘yes’,

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for example in offers or requests.
Would you like some coffee?
Could you give me some examples?
You can use ‘some’ with a singular noun when you do not know which
person or thing is involved, or you think it does not matter.
Some man phoned, but didn’t leave his number.
Is there some problem?
2
 You  use  ‘any’  in  front  of  plural  and  uncount  nouns  to  talk  about  a
quantity  of  something  that  may  or  may  not  exist.  You  normally  use
‘any’ in questions and negative sentences.
Are there any jobs men can do but women can’t?
It hasn’t made any difference.
You  use  ‘any’  with  a  singular  noun  to  emphasize  that  it  does  not
matter which person or thing is involved.
Any container will do.
You can use ‘no’ with an affirmative verb instead of ‘not any’.
There weren’t any tomatoes left.
There were no tomatoes left.
You can also use ‘not’ and ‘any’, or ‘no’, with a comparative.
Her house wasn’t any better than ours.
Her house was no better than ours.
3
 You  use  ‘another’  with  singular  nouns  to  talk  about  an  additional
person or thing.
Could I have another cup of coffee?
He opened another shop last month.

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You can also use ‘another’ with a number and a plural noun to talk
about more people or things.
Another four years passed before we met again.
I’ve got another three books to read.
You  use  ‘other’  with  plural  nouns  and  ‘the  other’  with  singular  or
plural nouns.
I’ve got other things to think about.
The other man has gone.
The other European countries have all beaten us.
4
 You  use  ‘each’  or  ‘every’  with  a  singular  noun  to  talk  about  all  the
members of a group of people or things. You use ‘each’ when you are
thinking about the members as individuals, and ‘every’ when you are
making a general statement about all of them.
Each county is subdivided into several districts.
Each applicant has five choices.
Every child would have milk every day.
She spoke to every person at that party.
You can modify ‘every’ but not ‘each’.
He spoke to them nearly every day.
We went out almost every evening.
5
You can use ‘some of’, ‘any of’, or ‘each of’, and a noun group to talk
about a number of people or things in a group of people or things.
Some of the information has already been analysed.
It was more expensive than any of the other magazines.
He gave each of us advice about our present goals.
You  can  use  ‘each  of’  and  a  plural  noun  group  but  ‘every’  must  be
followed by ‘one of’.

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Each of the drawings is different.
Every one of them is given a financial target.
Note that you can also use ‘each’ with ‘one of’.
This view of poverty influences each one of us.

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