A. Pemahaman dan Penggunaan Some.
*Penggunaan some dalam kalimat positif (Affirmatif/Positive sentence).
1. Some menyatakan arti 'beberapa' untuk kata benda yang bisa dihitung dalam bentuk jamak.
-Mr. Anwar has some cars.
(Pak Anwar punya beberapa mobil).
-Some students come late to school.
(Beberapa pelajar datang terlambat ke sekolah).
2. Some menyatakan 'suatu' pada kata benda yang bisa dihitung dalam bentuk tunggal.
-I will visit you someday.
(Saya akan mengunjungimu suatu hari).
-We can meet at someplace to solve that problem.
(Kita dapat bertemu di suatu tempat untuk menyelesaikan masalah itu).
3. Some menyatakan 'sejumlah/sedikit/sekedar' untuk kata benda yang tidak bisa dihitung.
-John gave me some plain water when I visited him.
(John memberikan aaya sedikit air putih ketika saya mengunjunginya).
-My father gave some money to my little brother.
(Ayah saya memberikan sejumlah uang kepada adik saya).

B. Pemahaman dan Penggunaan Any.
*Penggunaan any dalam kalimat tanya.
-Do you have any money?
(Apakah anda mempunyai sejumlah uang?
*Penggunaan any dalam kalimat negatif.
Any didalam kalimat negatif berarti 'tidak sama sekali/sedikit pun' dan sering tidak diterjemahkan.
-I don't have any money.
(Saya tidak memiliki uang (sama sekali/sedikit pun).)
*Any digunakan untuk menyatakan 'apa saja, siapa pun dan kapan pun'.
-You may come to my house any time.
(Anda boleh datang ke rumah saya kapan saja).
-You can buy anything in that supermarket.
(Anda bisa membeli apa saja di pasar swalayan itu.
-Any of you may come to my house.
(Siapa saja di antara anda boleh datang ke rumah saya).
*Not any bisa digantikan dengan No.
-John doesn't have any money. ---> John has no money.
(John tidak mempunyai uang).

~Diambil dari buku 'Panduan Praktis Menerapkan English Grammar' karangan Drs. Thursan(a) Hakim~

How to pronounce ‘S’ in American English Pronunciation

When ‘S’ sounds like ‘Z’

There’s a very confusing aspect of the ‘S’ sound in American English. ‘S’ has more of a light ‘Z’ sound in some common words when the ‘S’ follows a vowel.

The phonetic rule is like this:

If ‘S’ follows a vowel or a voiced consonant, it sounds like ‘Z’.

However, this rule is not constant, there are some exceptions. For example, “is” has the ‘Z’ sound, but“this” does not. Remember, just like the flap T sound rules, most Americans are unaware of this distinction. When asked what sound is made at the end of “is”, they would say ‘S’, and then speak it with a ‘Z’ the next thing they say.

My advice is to rely on your own ear or on an audio dictionary, such as Cambridge Dictionary Online orMerriam-Webster Dictionary.

Watch this video from Rachel. She will teach you How to Pronounce S ‘z’.

Now practice your pronunciation with the following words:

rise – raise

pose – pause

these – those

his – has

flies – flows

says – days

easy – busy

confuse – confess

because

reason

Soft Drink vs. Fizzy Drink

There are actually three SOFT DRINK synonyms in America:

1. SODA in New England and Northeast

2. POP in the midwest extending through to the Pacific Northwest

3. COKE in the American South.

Two out of three of these words makes sense given the histories of soft drinks in their regions. The word SODAwas probably more entrenched in the vocabulary of the Northeast by the time that Coca-Cola emerged in the late 19th-Century. The South say COKE, of course, is where Coca-Cola originates. Its ubiquity may very easily have resulted in this particular brand being synonymous with soft drinks of all kind. (Much like “Band-Aid” has become synonymous with small bandages).

Which leaves the onomatopoeic POP native to dialects of the Mid- and Northwest, so named, apparently, because of the sound made when removing a cork from a carbonated beverage.

The British call soft drink as FIZZY DRINK although they also call it by its brand names, such as Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Dr. Pepper, 7Up, etc.