"Do you have children" vs "Do you have any children"

[007bond]

Hello teachers, Can I omit any in these sentences? http://www.learnersdictionary.com/qa/do-you-have-children-vs-do-you-have-any-children-is-there-a-difference this site says we can omit any without changing meaning.

Here are examples:

1. Do you have (any) children?

• last month I visited a small and poor village. I did not see (any) computers there.

What do you think teachers? Would it be grammatical to omit any?

 

[Tdol]

Yes, it would.

 

[Tarheel]

Yes, but why do you want to?

 

[jutfrank]

Your question should not be about grammar, but about the usage of any.

1) If the idea of children comes more or less out of the blue, it's likely that the speaker would omit any. But there could be reasons why using any would be preferable. For example, if the asker had just been talking about his children, say, then it might be more likely that he would use any.

2) It is very likely that the speaker would prefer to use any.

 

[007bond]

Yes, but why do you want to?

I don't want to omit any. I want to know whether omission of it with plural nouns is correct or not. Actually we have a whatsapp group where we discuss about grammar. Someone asked me whether we could omit any in such sentences. I was not sure so I seareched on the internet about my query and then posted it here. Thank you all for answering.

 

[007bond]

Your question should not be about grammar, but about the usage of any.

1) If the idea of children comes more or less out of the blue, it's likely that the speaker would omit any. But there could be reasons why using any would be preferable. For example, if the asker had just been talking about his children, say, then it might be more likely that he would use any.

2) It is very likely that the speaker would prefer to use any.

Hello teacher, your explanation is very helpful. But I have a question. In the above two sentences, if I don't use any in exams or in formal writing where grammar matters, will I be marked down? As you said without any the meaning is the same and the above sentences are correct.

 

[GoesStation]

The first sentence number one is fine. The second number one is odd enough that some teachers might mark it wrong. It's very unnatural without "any".

 

[jutfrank]

In the above two sentences, if I don't use any in exams or in formal writing where grammar matters, will I be marked down?

1) This is not a question of grammar since both inclusion and omission is correct grammatically. It is a question of appropriate usage.
2) I am not aware of any exams where this could be an issue. The question Do you have children? is something that you might hear/say as part of a conversation. You would not need to say this in an exam.

As you said without any the meaning is the same and the above sentences are correct.

I did not say that. I don't think you should see the difference as a difference of meaning but rather as a difference of use.

To repeat what I'm trying to teach you:

Do you have children?
Do you have any children?

The difference between these two utterances is a difference of use. They are equally correct grammatically but they would be used in different contexts, for different reasons.

 

[007bond]

The first sentence number one is fine. The second number one is odd enough that some teachers might mark it wrong. It's very unnatural without "any".

Can I use a singular noun after 'any' in the second sentence? "..... I did not see any computer."

Are there any other ways saying the same?

 

[jutfrank]

Can I use a singular noun after 'any' in the second sentence? "..... I did not see any computer."

No.

Are there any other ways saying the same?

Forget this question. There's no need to use other ways.