| Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993. |
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| any (adv., pron.) |
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| The pronoun any is either singular or plural: Any of those titles sounds [sound] better than this one. The choice is based on notional agreement. One usage argument favors changing the Standard but idiomatic any in the largest of any tomatoes I’ve seen to read the largest of all tomatoes…; similarly, the argument would change the than any in taller than any giraffe I’ve seen to read taller than any other giraffe I’ve seen, taller than all other giraffes I’ve seen, or the tallest giraffe I’ve ever seen. Edited English usually defers to this argument, especially for Formal use, but the other is idiomatic in other contexts. | 1 |
| The adverb any is also Standard: The price of gas hasn’t changed any this week. Its frequency is much greater at Conversational levels than in Edited English. | 2 |
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| | | The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. Copyright © 1993 Columbia University Press. |
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