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Jane
"any problems" or " any problem"? The sentence is from a dictionary : "Your request shouldn't present us with any problems." And this sentence is from a text book: " you won't have any problem getting rice..." My question is : Why sometimes they use " any problems", and sometimes use " any problem" ?
Jul 1, 2020 1:43 AM
Answers · 3
The correct usage is both your examples is "any problems" (plural) because it is uncertain how many problems there could be. If I tell you "you can choose any book you like from this pile", it is certain that you only get to keep one book. If I tell you "you can choose any books you like from this pile", the number is uncertain. It could be one or ten. If you want to use singular, it would more commonly be "you won't have a problem getting rice"
July 1, 2020
as a native english speaker, I find myself tending to use "any problems" more than "any problem", but yes both are correct and there is no real reason for using one over the other
July 1, 2020
Hi Jane! Both are generally correct. Most people will use either one interchangeably. 兩個都可以用。
July 1, 2020
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