anything on the menu

[navi tasan]

1) He ordered anything on the menu when he went to that restaurant.

2) What the waiter said was not really clear. It could mean John ordered anything on the menu when he went to that restaurant.

Do these sentences make sense?
Do they mean he ordered everything on the menu or something on the menu?

I can understand

3) He could order anything on the menu.

but '1' and '2' sound incorrect to me, unless he really ordered everything on the menu (even then, they would sound a bit strange).

 

[Rover_KE]

The original sentence doesn't make sense. Where did you find it?

 

[navi tasan]

Thank you very much, Rover,

I think someone said it to me. I might have misheard. But it might have been something like the second one. Maybe the sentence with 'anything' was within another sentence. Does the second one make sense? The second one doesn't make sense to me either. 'Everything' and 'something' would make sense, but 'anything' doesn't make sense to me.

 

[tedmc]

"Anything" is usually used in the negative sense, or when one can't be bothered about choosing.

What did your friend want to say? Why can't you ask him rather than ask here?

 

[Tarheel]

Sometimes a customer will say, "Surprise me!" or perhaps, "Just give me anything on the menu." However, "He ordered anything on the menu" doesn't make much sense.