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ESL forum > Grammar and Linguistics > Help please!    

Help please!



haydav
United Kingdom

Help please!
 
Which is correct:

Are any of your family or is any of your family on a diet?

Many thanks
Jon

5 Mar 2010      





poki
Slovenia

I would rather say:  Is anyone in your family on a diet?
 
Polona

5 Mar 2010     



minso
Egypt

I second Poki "Is any of your family on a diet?"

5 Mar 2010     



dawnmain
United Kingdom

depends if you are asking if one person or various people are on a diet. both are grammatically correct.

5 Mar 2010     



Nelssa
Ukraine

Singular: another, anybody, anyone, anything, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything, many a, neither, no one, nobody, nothing, one, other, somebody, someone.
Plural: both, few, many, others, several.
Singular or Plural: all, any, none, some, such.
A good rule of thumb is to treat most indefinite pronouns as singular and try to remember the few exceptions.

Example 2: None of the documents (is/are) identified in the brief.
Think: Not one of the documents is identified in the brief. (singular subject/singular verb)
Example 3: Some of the arguments (was/were) weak.
Think:  More than one of the arguments were weak. (plural subject/plural verb)
On the surface, indefinite pronouns seem simple and harmless, but they often cause confusion for writers. Try rephrasing the sentence by replacing the indefinite pronoun with some of the suggested variations above, and you �ll usually make the correct choice.

5 Mar 2010     



mjpa
Spain

I think this is one of those case like police which can be considered singular or plural depending on who you are thinking about. But it sounds much better to me "Is there any in   your family.....?" than are there ...

5 Mar 2010     



GIOVANNI
Canada

I would say � �Is anyone in your family on a diet? � �  and if I wanted it with � �are � � I would say � �Are any members of your family on a diet � �?

5 Mar 2010     



chatina7
Mexico

  Hello everyone!
  I`m new here and I want to know how i can get some printables or download some material
  without using my points, I mean free material.
  thank you in advance.

5 Mar 2010