Talk:anymore

Adverb?

Isn't any more an adverb? Dictionary.com, Merriam Webster, and the OED all lists as such.— This unsigned comment was added by 69.141.36.152 (talk) at 18:18, 6 July 2010.

Sure. Thanks.​—msh210℠ (talk) 18:19, 6 July 2010 (UTC)

Regional Note

Don't get me wrong, I think the regional note on the positive usage of 'anymore' is relevant and valuable, I just have a problem with, "Its use, which appears to be spreading." I've removed this for now, but perhaps something to this effect could be reinstated if an adequate citation could be uncovered. Tredici 00:18, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

Any More?

Funny, I thought that it just got spelt that way (one word) because people missed the space bar and then thought that it'd be cool to make a habit of it. Rather like 'alot' instead of 'a lot'. On checking the Cambridge English Dictionary and Merriam Websters, it would appear that this is a primarily US English spelling. Couldn't we thus define it as such? Pheasantplucker 13:02, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

I was under the impression that any more and anymore had two entirely different meanings. i.e. 'Are there any more sweet potatoes?' 'We don't sell sweet potatoes anymore.'

That's not really a correct way to look at it... if that were true, then "no more" wouldn't mean "not any longer", but it does. You can at least as correctly say "We don't sell sweet potatoes any more."219.89.227.73 12:04, 29 September 2012 (UTC)

While not everyone uses anymore, those who do use it, do mostly make this distinction. That is, very few careful writers would write we don't have anymore sweet potatoes. So the entry is misleading in saying that anymore is a variant spelling of any more — it's a variant spelling of only one sense of any more. --12.202.168.34 22:43, 5 October 2012 (UTC)

Yes, in the same way that maybe and may be are two separate ideas. Mglovesfun (talk) 22:46, 5 October 2012 (UTC)

In Commonwealth English this is an error. It's not the only error Americans make, but it's amongst the more illogical. Otherwise anyless would also be a word, when it obviously isn't - and neither really is "anymore".

"Anymore" is only used when it means "no longer" in negation or when it means "still" in questions. "Any less" doesn't have such a sense, so your argument seems to miss the point. I'm a non-native speaker and I mostly use British spelling, but I do think the distinction between "any more" and "anymore" useful and I've never found it illogical or hard to understand. 90.186.83.39 12:59, 9 August 2021 (UTC)

• The online version of Merriam-Webster at the entry for Anymore [1] gives Anymore vs. Any More: Usage Guide [here omitting example sentences]: "Although both anymore and any more are found in written use, in current writing anymore is the more common styling. Anymore is regularly used in negative, interrogative, and conditional contexts and in certain positive constructions. In many regions of the U.S. the use of anymore in sense 2 (at the present time : NOW, NOWADAYS) [as opposed to sense 1 (any longer)] is quite common in positive constructions, especially in speech. The positive use appears to have been of Midland origin, but it is now reported to be widespread in all speech areas of the U.S. except New England." See [2]. Since 1961 M-W is said to have changed from being "prescriptive" to "descriptive" in American word usage.
• The online version of The American Heritage Dictionary at the entry for Anymore [3] gives Our Living Language "In standard American English, the word anymore is often found in negative sentences: They don't live here anymore. But anymore is widely used in regional American English in positive sentences with the meaning "nowadays": "We use a gas stove anymore" (Oklahoma informant in the Dictionary of American Regional English). This usage is especially associated with the South Midland and Midwestern states, as well as the Western states that received settlers from those areas. The earliest recorded examples are from Northern Ireland, where the positive use of anymore still occurs." See [4] for a discussion of the editors' approach to word usage.
• Microsoft's Word spell-check flags any and all use of the two-word any more construction as being incorrect, leading to anomalies like "or make anymore final changes" in a MoveOn email from Robert Reich received today.
• Personally, as a GA speaker, I agree fully with Wiktionary's current Usage notes:
  "Incorrect as a single word (rather than the two words "any more") when used non-adverbially, such as before a noun as a determiner. For example, "Do you want anymore cake?" is incorrect. Incorrect as a single word (rather than the two words "any more") before "than"; for example, "I don't like carrots anymore than cabbage" is incorrect. In British English, "any more" is the dominant form, and "anymore" may be considered incorrect in all contexts."
  Milkunderwood (talk) 02:00, 7 November 2022 (UTC)

Phrasal stresses

Alternative form of any more, but does the two-word phrase have the same stress(es)? Cf. anytime ˈɛnitime) --Backinstadiums (talk) 16:19, 29 August 2021 (UTC)