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Unit 1: English In A Minute
Give us a minute and we'll give you English

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Session 44

Welcome to English In A Minute. Give us a minute and we'll give you a hot tip about English. Grammar, vocabulary... there's so much to learn! And all taught by your favourite BBC Learning English staff!

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    Activity 1
  1. Activity 1

Activity 1

Everyone vs anyone

Do you have a minute to spare to learn some English? Tom untangles the trouble with everyone and anyone! Give us 60 seconds and we'll give you the English! 

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Tom
Hello, ladies and gentlemen! Tom here for BBC Learning English. Today I'm going to explain the difference between everyone and anyone.

When I say 'hello everyone', I'm talking to all the people in a group or all the people watching this video.

Anyone, however, relates to any one individual person in a group, and we often use it to ask questions. 

For example: Is anyone listening? Or: Can anyone answer today's question?

Here I'm asking if any individuals in the group are listening.

If the whole group is listening, we can say: Yes, everyone is listening! - Which is something that English teachers love to hear.

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EIAM Teaser 6minvocab_13_someone_nothing_anywhere.jpg TGG_Teaser______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Everyone vs anyone

One
In expressions such as 'everyone', 'anyone', 'no one'  -one refers to a person or group of people. There is no difference between everyone, anyone, no one and everybody, anybody and nobody.

Everyone
Everyone refers to all of the people within one particular group. It is used with a singular verb.

  • Hello, everyone!
  • Everyone knows that the moon is made of cheese.
  • So I asked everyone to meet in the hall at 6pm.

Anyone
Anyone is often used in questions and negatives and refers to one individual person within a particular group, though we may not know who they are. It is used with a singular verb.

  • Is anyone listening?
  • Do you know anyone who can fix cars?
  • I'm not sure anyone feels the same.

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