Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: who+some/any?

Kind Realmers,
     I ran into a sentence which puzzled me a lot.
How would you say " Chi le ha dato del pane?".
I did "Who gave her some bread?" or "Who's the one who...?" but I've been
told I was wrong because an interrogative sentence calls for "any", and it's
not an offer, so it should be "Who gave her any bread?"
It doesn't add up to me, still, I'm not able to find a...grammatical
justification.  Am I wrong?
TIA
Tabhall

--

<What about "Who gave her bread " ?
Yours
Sal

 What about "Who gave her bread " ?
Of course. But I've been specifically requested to use "some" or "any". It
doesn't make much sense, I agree, but in case?
Tabhall


< Se proprio dovessi scegliere, se proprio fossi messo con le spalle al muro
, se proprio fosse una una questione di vita o di morte io direi  :
Who gave her any bread ?
Aspettiamo perň il parere di un madrelingua .
Yours
Sal

Aspettiamo perņ il parere di un madrelingua .
The correct form is "Who gave her some bread"?  
Here you could only use any in a negative sense, i.e. "Don't give her
any bread".
The two are interchangeable in some situations, but have subtly
different meanings:
"Can I have some bread please"? - implies that there is definitely some
bread available whereas:
"Can I have any bread"? - indicates that there may not be any bread.
Cheers
-- 
John G Davies

 Tabhall
-- 
  Brevity is the soul of wit.    W.Shakespeare

Speaking of "any bread"...I remember some years ago a friend of mine (this is a
true story) was stopped on the streed by a man who asked her: "Do you have any
bread?".  She answered: "No, I don't eat in the street!".  LOL !!!  Hope you
got it.
bye
arianna

The correct form is "Who gave her some bread"?  
Yes, or simply, "Who gave her bread?"
There are some subtle contextual differences.
Raymot
[[[[[[[[[

 "Can I have any bread"? - indicates that there may not be any bread.
I don't think it implies that at all. There are two ways to see this
sentence. 
That there is quite a selection available. "Can I take any one of the
multitude of bread types I see before me? 
Nope, you can't have any, only vegetables!
May I have some bread? Sure take anything you want.
or as my father used to say. You can, but whether you may, is another
matter. :-)
Loki


il 11 Nov 2001 22:25:29 GMT, 
gfca...@aol.com
 (GFCARRERA) ha
scritto:

In that meaning I probably would use any bread. :-)



So sorry, but I don't get the joke. Could
you draw me a picture, please?
---
Xakero
--------------------------------
Inviato via 
http://usenet.iol.it
 


Bread was a 60's expression for money.  I assume that's the joke, he's asking
for money.
We are dealing with bread crumbs here.
Rick

We are dealing with bread crumbs here.
And there was I, hoping
it would be something more salacious.
I fast-forwarded through the 60's,
hence my ignorance. I remember it as dough, though, which probably is
British English for the same meaning (money) of bread in the US. The
British made the dough and you baked it.


doesn't make much sense, I agree, but in case?
You
have my sympathy! Seems you got a stubborn-headed English teacher who
doesn't know his subject. So he/she has decreed that in a question, unless
it is an offer (Would you like some bread?) it must always be "any" and can
never be "some".
I guess quotations from the English literature would
not help you; your tyrant would simply say that the author got it wrong.
But please check out 
http://dictionary.cambridge.org
QUOTE
any (SOME)
determiner, pronoun 
some, or even the smallest amount or number of 
Is
there any of that lemon cake left?
"Do you have any basil?" "I'm sorry,
there isn't any left."
I don't think there'll be any snow this Christmas.
There was hardly any food left by the time we got there.
"Is there some
butter I could use?" "No, there's some margarine but there isn't any
butter."
"Is there any more soup?" "No, I'm afraid there isn't any left."
I haven't seen any of his films.
I don't expect we'll have any more
trouble from him.
I go to church for weddings but not for any other
reason.
Are you sure there isn't any way of solving this problem?
Very
few people, if any (=probably none, in fact), still believe that the Earth
is flat.
UNQUOTE
Source:
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=any*1+0
“Is there some
butter I could use?”
Definitely a question.
Definitely not an offer.
Need more?
QUOTE
some (UNKNOWN AMOUNT)
determiner 
an amount or number
of (something) which is not stated or not known; a part of (something)
There's some cake in the kitchen if you'd like it.
Here's some news you
might be interested in.
We've been having some problems with our TV over
the last few weeks.
Could you give me some idea of when the building work
will finish?
Clearly the treatment has had some effect - we'll have to
wait and see how much.
To some extent the experiment was a success.
I've
got to do some more work before I can go out.
UNQUOTE
Source:
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=some*1+0
“Could you give
me some idea of when the building work will finish?”
Definitely a
question.
Definitely not an offer.
---
Xakero
PS. I disapprove of
stubborn-headed teachers who don't know their subjects.


 British made the dough and you baked it.
AFAIK, dough is used in American English too.
To mean money, I mean.
saluti,
Peltio

 stubborn-headed teachers who don't know their subjects.
Don't tell me. I'm going to teach myself and keep lurking here. Thanks for
your tips.
Tabhall