Is it correct to use "some" in negative and interrogative sentences?

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hi teachers,

  1. The plane that he was scheduled to take to Hawaii was delayed.

Is it okay if I omit “he”? Is it still correct and meaningful?

  1. Is it correct to use “some” in negative and interrogative sentences?
    e.g. Do you have some money?
    I don’t like some of the books.

Thank you.

2

Hi Rosalisa,

  1. The plane that he was scheduled to take to Hawaii was delayed.
    You cannot omit ‘he’. There is an expression to take a plane to. He( a man) was scheduled to take a plane :smiley: By the way, this construction seems correct to me:
    The plane was taken to Cincinnati (by Daniel)–passive form

But the sentence:
The plane that was scheduled to take to Hawaii was delayed- I believe, it’s not corect. However:
The plane (that was) scheduled to be taken to Hawaii was delayed-is correct, to my mind.


Do you have some money?
It is fine. I’d rather say, in this particular case it is tantamount to
Do you have any money?

Now let’s analyse the two sentences given below:
Can you give me some money?

Can you give me any money?

They are not identical in meaning. When you ask your friend :
Can you give me some money?

You know that he has money.

When you ask:
Can you give me any money?

You are not sure whether he has any money or not.

I don’t like some of the books.

It is grammatically correct. By using ‘some of’ you specify that among certain choice of books(presence of ‘the’- the books) some of them you don’t like.

3

Hi Rosalisa

I agree with Pamela. You cannot omit ‘he’ in your first sentence.

Regarding the use of ‘some’ in negative sentences and questions, you should be able to find information about this in any good grammar book.

There are a number of situations in which ‘some’ is used in negative sentences or questions.

In this sentence, using the word ‘any’ would change the meaning:
Let’s assume there are 10 books.

  • I don’t like any of the books = I like none of them. (I like zero of the 10 books./ I dislike all 10 of the books.)
  • I don’t like some of the books = I like a few of them but not all of them. (In this case, I might like 4 books and dislike 6 books, for example.)

Basically, using ‘some’ instead of ‘any’ in a question assumes something positive or anticipates/encourages an affirmative (yes) response.

4

Thank you, Pamela and Amy, for your efforts to explain me. :smiley: I’ve got a clearer understanding of them.