Shouldn't 'I don't recognise anyone any more.' in fact be 'I don't recognise anyone anymore.' ?

SeanC1Kwiziq community member

Shouldn't 'I don't recognise anyone any more.' in fact be 'I don't recognise anyone anymore.' ?

Asked 2 years ago
CécileKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Thank you Sean for pointing this out, I have fixed this typo which only seems to be in that particular sentence.

Bonne Continuation !

AlanC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/any-more-or-anymore

Especially in American English, any more, as an adverb, can be written as one word, anymore:

MaartenC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Alan’s right - this is regional difference, and an evolving language change, but ‘any more’ shouldn’t be considered as a mistake, as it is still correct in English.

CécileKwiziq team member

Just to add to what has been said. The use of the adverb 'anymore' in the examples is to mean 'no longer/any longer' referring to time rather than quantity so I do think it has to be one word, hence the correction.

https://www.grammarly.com/blog/anymore-vs-any-more/#:~:text=Any%20more%20and%20anymore%20have,t%20like%20tea%20anymore.).

P.S. We had both versions, just decided to plumb for one only for coherence's sake

AdrianC1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Cécile, FYI, Alan's reference is about the time usage. "I don't do that anymore" is the American spelling, "I don't do that any more" is the English one. (For quantity, both regions use "any more".)

MaartenC1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Cécile, in British English ‘any more’ is still correct, according to both Cambridge and Collins dictionaries, likewise it is correct in  Australian English. Single word spelling may be increasing, but that is the American influence.  Either is fine to use here, but it was not wrong in the first place and didn’t need to be changed. 

 https://getproofed.com.au/writing-tips/word-choice-any-more-vs-anymore/ https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/anymore

Shouldn't 'I don't recognise anyone any more.' in fact be 'I don't recognise anyone anymore.' ?

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