Tuesday, September 4, 2012

grammar - Connotations of "Is there any" vs "Are there any"



For countable nouns, both "Is there any x?" and "Are there any x?" are grammatical and correct.




But what nuance / connotation differences are there between them?



For example, if we're searching for a Chrome plugin to do something, what's the connotation difference between:




Is there any Chrome plugin to do this?




vs:





Are there any Chrome plugins to do this?




Related threads (which only increases the confusion):




Answer



With "is there any" it implies to me that the speaker is asking for one solution; a "magic bullet" type of Chrome plugin to use your example. They're asking for a particular solution; perhaps the "best" one.




With "are there any" it implies that the speaker is asking a more open-ended question and not looking for a one-size-fits-all solution, but will evaluate the suggestions.


No comments:

Post a Comment