Should "any" be followed by plural form of nouns?

[Haorong Wu]

In a writing class, my professor taught us that "any" should be followed by plural form of nouns, so as "no".

For example, we should say, "Are there any students in the classroom?", and "There are no students in the classroom.". And it is incorrect to say something like "Is there any student in the classroom?"

But when I read textbooks or papers, I saw in many sentences, "any" is followed by singular form of nouns.

Does this make a difference when I write a paper? I hardly believe this would somehow reduce the quality of a paper.

 

[DaveE]

I think your professor is correct, in a pedantic sense. But human language is a subtle, complex, and evolving thing. Perhaps the best standard is did you communicate your ideas well.

Few native English speakers actually follow all of the rules of grammar, they have lives to get on with living.

Anyway, I, for one, agree with your assessment. OTOH, just change it, it's not worth fighting over.

 

[symbolipoint]

In a writing class, my professor taught us that "any" should be followed by plural form of nouns, so as "no".

For example, we should say, "Are there any students in the classroom?", and "There are no students in the classroom.". And it is incorrect to say something like "Is there any student in the classroom?"

But when I read textbooks or papers, I saw in many sentences, "any" is followed by singular form of nouns.

Does this make a difference when I write a paper? I hardly believe this would somehow reduce the quality of a paper.

Your sense is excellent here, and to be more secure about what "any" means and to understand how to use it, read and study this from a Grammar & Usage textbook.

 

[vela]

I think your professor is correct, in a pedantic sense.

The OP's professor is wrong: "Sorry, I had no choice" not "Sorry, I had no choices"; "Any chance we can take the car out for a test drive?" not "Any chances we can take the car out for a test drive?"

Does this make a difference when I write a paper? I hardly believe this would somehow reduce the quality of a paper.

It can. Most readers will overlook a few isolated errors, but many errors littering your writing can be distracting. More important, your aim in writing a paper often is not simply to communicate but to convince and persuade, and appearing ignorant or careless doesn't help you achieve this goal.

 

[PeroK]

In a writing class, my professor taught us that "any" should be followed by plural form of nouns, so as "no".

For example, we should say, "Are there any students in the classroom?", and "There are no students in the classroom.". And it is incorrect to say something like "Is there any student in the classroom?"

But when I read textbooks or papers, I saw in many sentences, "any" is followed by singular form of nouns.

Does this make a difference when I write a paper? I hardly believe this would somehow reduce the quality of a paper.

Anyone, everyone, everybody and no one etc are all singular nouns. E.g everyone is welcome, no one is excluded. That's worth knowing.

It's pointless, however, to avoid phrases like "are there any students". Such phrases are in common usage and you have an idiom like "any takers?".

That said, it seems like your professor is arguing the opposite!

English does allow plurals to be used semantically, at least in common usage. For example, there is a song by Elvis Costello:

Oliver's army is here to stay.
Oliver's army are on their way.

Similarly, you could say:

Liverpool is the best team.
Liverpool are the champions.

 

[symbolipoint]

"are there any students".

Depending on how you mean, "are there any students", or "Is there any student".

I really do not feel like trying to add to the arguments one way or the other, so I suggested checking carefully in a good Grammar and Usage book.

 

[atyy]

Your professor is wrong.

https://brians.wsu.edu/2016/05/17/anyone-any-one/

 

[PeroK]

In a writing class, my professor taught us that "any" should be followed by plural form of nouns, so as "no".

Just to be clear. This is definitely wrong. There may an extremely pedantic case for the opposite: that any and no should always be followed by a singular noun. For example:

"No actions were taken." is common usage, but you might make a case that "no action was taken" is to be preferred.

Likewise, you might make an extremely pedantic case never to write "any students"; and, always to write "any student" or simply "students". As in "are there students in the classroom" or "is there any student who can tell me ...".

 

[Vanadium 50]

For example, there is a song by Elvis Costello

If we're going to let song lyrics be authoritative with respect to grammar, we would have to allow "is you is or is you ain't my baby".

 

[Averagesupernova]

My take on it would be "is there any student who can..." implies an expectation that no student can answer the question. "Are there any students who can..." implies an expectation of a few students being able to give an answer.