Some

English grammar and usage issues

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henryh
Member
Posts: 3
Joined: 30 Nov 2007, 15:02

Some

Unread post by henryh »

Hello,

1 There's some water in the bottle.
2 There's water in the bottle.

What is the second one? What's the difference?

Thanks.
Chopvac
Rising Star
Posts: 25
Joined: 19 Oct 2007, 18:01

Re: Some

Unread post by Chopvac »

henryh wrote:Hello,

1 There's some water in the bottle.
2 There's water in the bottle.

What is the second one? What's the difference?

Thanks.
In a 500ml bottle:

"There's water..."
100ml
200ml
300ml
400ml
500ml

"There's water..." speaks strictly of existence or nonexistence, regardless of the amount.


"There's some water..."
100ml
200ml
300ml

Some, in reference to uncountable nouns, usually (though not always) ranges from more than zero up to half.

It can also mean more than half, depending on the need. (Example: you have 500ml in a 500ml bottle but require a litre of water.)
lxguy
Member
Posts: 4
Joined: 26 Jan 2008, 15:40
Status: Other

Re: Some

Unread post by lxguy »

1 There's some water in the bottle.
2 There's water in the bottle.
Maybe the first sentence puts emphasis on quantity while the second one just on content(i.e water not milk or else)
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