anything expensive

a. When he comes here, he may buy anything expensive.

The sentence is mine.

Do we know whether 'anything' refers to
1. one object here (He may buy something expensive There is no telling what.
2. or to multiple objects (He may buy expensive things. There is no telling what.)
3. everything expensive (all the expensive things)
?

I have asked a similar question very recently. Here 'anything' is modified by an adjective. The structure is not the same. My feeling is that the meaning could be any of the three cases mentioned.

Many thanks.

These context free questions are almost impossible to answer. Your sentence does not sound particularly idiomatic and it does not tell us anything useful that we need to know to make sense of it

e.g. Where is "here"? Who is "he"? Who is controlling the budget? What sort of things are for sale?

When we make meaning we do not do it in a vaccum, we do it against the context and what is likely or feasible in that context. According to the context the exact meaning of words can shift. Your use of the modal "may" adds more uncertainty to the meaning too.

Do you have a REAL sentence where the nuances of "anything" are bothering you. If so you should tell us that, because this context-free thing is too abstract.

Thank you so much Suzi,

I understand that my questions can sometimes be frustrating. They are frustrating for me too! I am interested in ambiguity and that is why the contextual vacuum is the ideal place to 'test' my sentences. Mind you, I have nothing against ambiguity. It is inevitable and exists in every language. I just want to be able to spot it.

I will try to make up a context for my sentence, but I doubt that it will help.

Let us say we work in a store that sells all sorts of watches and I am telling you how a very rich and irrational person behaves.

a. When he comes here, he may buy anything expensive or not buy anything at all.

I still think that the sentence could have the three meanings I have given.

Many thanks.

In that sentence I would not use "anything" in the first slot. I would say he may buy SOMETHING expensive or not buy anything at all.
This is part of the problem with hypothetical questions: you proposed a sentence that would not really arise, so the three options you propose do not arise either.

Do you sense ambiguity in the sentence I re-wrote with the "anything" I left in?

Thank you very much Suzi,

No ambiguity there. To me 'something' means 'one thing'.

Many thanks.

I tend to agree with suzi: I don't think the original sentence is idiomatic. 👁 Frown :(


It works with "something", in which case the meaning would be (1) or possibly (2). It also works with a negative sentence: a1. When he comes here, he may not buy anything expensive.

But there's something about the syntax in the original sentence which just doesn't work. 👁 Confused :confused: