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Icebeaver7 · Joined: 04 May 2004 Posts: 15

and anybody? these are dang confusing. help please!

lajzar · Joined: 09 Feb 2003 Posts: 647 Location: Saitama-ken, Japan

Is anyone there?

I met someone in the bar last night.

That's your basic illustration of the topic. any___ is used in questions, some___ in statements. There is one extra use of any___, and that one I'll leave for you to discover.

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

You can say "I met someone in the bar last night", but not "I met somebody in the bar last night".

Someone is referring to a specific person.
Somebody is generic, anyone will do.

Nismo · Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Posts: 520

anyone - implies any person will fit the mold.
Ex.: "Anyone can learn to play the guitar." "They won't let anyone inside the building."

someone - an anonymous marker for a specific person you are referring to.
Ex.: "Someone gave this present to me last year." "I have a meeting with someone."

somebody - a general term applied everybody
Ex.: "Somebody help me!" (after which the person who actually helped you becomes 'someone', "Someone helped me.") "Somebody needs to teach him a lesson." ("Someone taught him a lesson.")

lajzar · Joined: 09 Feb 2003 Posts: 647 Location: Saitama-ken, Japan

At least in my dialect, someone and somebody are identical in meaning, as are everyone/everybody, anyone/anybody, and no-one/nobody.

Nismo · Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Posts: 520

If I heard the sentence, "Somebody gave this car to me last year," it sounds as if that 'somebody' is unknown. If I heard the sentence, "Someone gave this car to me last year," it sounds like the speaker is not revealing a known identity.

homersimpson · Joined: 14 Feb 2003 Posts: 569 Location: Kagoshima

According to Miriam-Webster:

anyone: Function: pronoun
: any person at all

someone: Function: pronoun
: some person : SOMEBODY

somebody: Function: pronoun
: one or some person of unspecified or indefinite identity <somebody will come in>

King of Babylon · Joined: 09 Oct 2004 Posts: 24 Location: Brisbane, Australia

The way I see it:

someone - low key, default usage, impersonal

somebody - conveys a sense of drama and urgency, more casual and personal

The same applies to 'anyone' and 'anybody'

I don't think any differences should be taught to ESL learners though, at least not until they have mastered the more complex concepts.

lajzar · Joined: 09 Feb 2003 Posts: 647 Location: Saitama-ken, Japan

King of Babylon · Joined: 09 Oct 2004 Posts: 24 Location: Brisbane, Australia

By complex concepts, at least from the perspective of a non-advanced ESL learner, I mean: 'default usage', 'sense of drama and urgency', 'impersonal', that sort of thing. I don't think they are simple at all.

As a linguistics major I would say that the differences between 'someone' and 'somebody' are more at the cognitive than semantic level. In other words, there is no official difference. Language, and word meaning especially, is highly vague. The number of words in the English language that have undergone dramatic changes in meaning over the past couple hundred years is amazing. We are speaking a language that is always reinventing itself, and building on itself daily.

Red Baron · Joined: 12 Nov 2004 Posts: 17 Location: Indiana

In general terms, there's little real difference between one/body.

The difference lies in the some/any.

Any indicates, of course, any. No specific. Any. Anyone, anybody, will do; you, me, Bob, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands -- anyone.

Some indicates a specific. Not just anyone, but someone specific. Someone has to know, but I don't know who that someone is.

When the subject is unknown, either may be used.

"Do you know anyone who speaks German?" = (more or less) "Do you know someone who speaks German?" .... although the first could be a general seeking of information, while the second may be intended for a "and who is it, I need some help with my auspass."

Tony