The first suggests that you know it's someone's birthday today. The second doesn't- it's an enquiry that may be answered in the negative for me.
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Thread: Whose birthday is it today?
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#1 18-Nov-2012, 22:45Whose birthday is it today?
Are the following questions any different? (Is "any" used correctly here?)
1. Whose birthday is it today?
2. Whose birthday is today?
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#2 19-Nov-2012, 12:54Re: Whose birthday is it today?
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#3 20-Nov-2012, 15:24Re: Whose birthday is it today?
So apart from that, they are both fine and correct. Is it Ok?
By the way, is this question correct? "Are the following questions any different?"Last edited by English4everyone; 20-Nov-2012 at 15:48.
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#4 20-Nov-2012, 16:23Re: Whose birthday is it today?
1 In the correct contexts.
2 I would use Is there any difference between the following questions?
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#5 20-Nov-2012, 17:13Re: Whose birthday is it today?
I have to admit I'm still confused about the first one.
Originally Posted by Tdol
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#6 20-Nov-2012, 19:57Re: Whose birthday is it today?
Originally Posted by English4everyone
What do you find confusing about it? Originally Posted by Hugo_Lin
I have to admit I'm still confused about the first one.
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#7 20-Nov-2012, 20:12Re: Whose birthday is it today?
The first "Whose birthday is it today?" suggests, as bhaisahab said, that you already know it is someone's birthday today but you're not sure whose. There may be 30 people in the room, earlier you heard someone say that someone has a birthday day but they didn't say which person. In order to find out, you ask "Whose birthday is it today?" You assume that at least one person will say "It's my birthday today!"
If you didn't know there was a birthday today, but were just curious to see if anyone in the room had a birthday, you would ask "Is it anyone's birthday day?" or "Does anyone in the room have a birthday today?"Remember - if you don't use correct capitalisation, punctuation and spacing, anything you write will be incorrect.
