plural noun and nearly

Dear teachers.

1) Would anyone tell me why in the sentence below "counselor" is singular noun ?

If you dig up anything interesting, you are to report it to me or any other counselor.

2) And what does the word "nearly" in the following sentence mean ? Is that used for emphasizing "long" ?

It took him NEARLY that long to get use to the cold water.

Thank you very much for your time.

[RonBee]

Originally Posted by ai

Dear teachers.

1) Would anyone tell me why in the sentence below "counselor" is singular noun ?

If you dig up anything interesting, you are to report it to me or any other counselor.

The word any is always singular. It's as if it has the word one as a silent partner.

Let's take another look at that sentence.

• If you dig up anything interesting, you are to report it to me or any other counselor.

You could rewrite that as:

• If you dig up anything interesting, you are to report it to me or any one of the other counselors.

That sentence means the same thing as the other one.

Originally Posted by ai

2) And what does the word "nearly" in the following sentence mean ? Is that used for emphasizing "long" ?

It took him NEARLY that long to get use[d] to the cold water.

The writer (or speaker) is emphasizing the length of time involved in the situation, but nearly in that sentence is equivalent to almost.

Does that help?

:)