Post
by hasiahu » Mon Jan 09, 2006 9:55 pm
well, i guess that might be a problem, but all you have to do if you're not sure of something, is go to the library or search the net for some examples, there's plenty and there are also plenty of sites with a detailed explanation of the use of such words. As you have possibly noticed, I used some with the word examples, which is definitely a definite amount, which means it is a countable noun. They can be used with both uncountable nouns (I have some money, but not much. There isn't any milk left!), countable nouns in the plural (do we have any apples left?) and yes, any is used in questions and negatives, but there is an exception. You will use some in a question if the thing you are talking about is there, for example: "Would you like some coffee?" (you have some coffee and you are offering it). If you don't know if something's there, you'll use any: "Let me check if we have any coffee left."
In my experience, one of the easiest excercises was always talking about what you have in your fridge or kitchen. You can either do a dialog if this is a conversation class, (for example, you are making a shopping list for tonight's dinner, or whatever). If you have many students in the class, you can have them work in pair or groups and discuss what they still need to prepare food for a party, or to cook a certain dish. This will also tie up to recipies, where they might also need to use some/any/many/much/little/few/a little/a few. If you need worksheets, there are plenty in the internet, but if you make your own adjusting it to your students level it might work better. Try the what-do-we-have-in-the-fridge one, with pictures and questions (do we have this? do we have that?). Also , try regular fill-in-the-blanks with senteces about the subject you talked about in class.
Hope this helps at all. Good luck.
hh
. I am having a little bit of trouble teaching "any" and "some". Is there a rule for these words? All I could think of was that they are both used for indefinite amounts. Some is used in positive statements and Any is used in questions and negative statements. Am I right? 
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