grammar questions

Dear teachers,

I have some questions about grammar.

1:In my grammar workbook I found a question is to make a correct sentence:
(never/ any/ the children/ did/ of) turn in their homework.
The answer is " Never did any of the children turn in their homework."
I think I understood it, but I wonder if the sentence " Any of the children didn't turn in their homework." is OK. Or maybe we can't say "Any of the children never turn in their homework"?

2: "by no means" or "by any means" uses in a negative sentence.
Can we use "by some means" in a positive sentence like we change "any" into "some" in positive sentences like " I have some apples." and "I don't have any apples."?

Thank you !!

[Casiopea]

1a. Any of the children didn't turn in their homework. (Not OK)
1b. Any of the children never turned in their homework. (Not OK)

Any has a wide scope, so it's not compatible with words that express a narrow scope: 'not' or 'never'. To narrow the scope, use None:

1c. None of the children turned in the work. (OK)

Below, Never modifies the auxiliary 'did'. The phrase 'Never did' is outside of the sentence proper (any of the children turn in the work), so it doesn't narrow the scope of any. any remains in full-scope:

1d. Never did any of the children turn in the work. (OK)
1b. Any of the children never turned in their homework. (Not OK)


Would you have an example or two for your second question?

By the way, did you feel the earthquake the other night? I did. It shook me out of my bed in Toyoda-cho! We're supposed to have another one pretty soon, so says the news. It's supposed to be a 5! I'm scared.

Dear Casiopea,

Thank you for your reply.
Will you give me some examples for my second question?

About the earthquake, yes!! I was so frightened.
For a long time it has been said that we will have a big earthquake in Shizuoka prefecture.
So scary.

[Casiopea]

Actually, I was asking for examples from you. I don't understand question 2).

Sorry, I misunderstood.
My no.2 quetion is:
for example, "She tried to get what she wants by some means."
Is it OK?
Or do you have another way with "by some means"?
I'd like to know how you use "by some means", or I'd like to know if we can use "by some means" in the first place.
Thank you.

[Casiopea]

Originally Posted by norikoagnes

"She tried to get what she wants by some means."
Is it OK? I'd like to know how you use "by some means", or I'd like to know if we can use "by some means" in the first place.
Thank you.

It's fine, but 'some' in that context is synonymous with considerable or remarkable. And 'some' would be stress to show that it doesn't mean an unknown amount.

Here is an example from me

By some unknown means, she made it to the exam on time.