ANY MORE vs ANYMORE
Well, like everything with the English language, everyone has a different opinion on this… and as it is an ever-evolving language often all the thoughts are valid. Here are the schools of thought on this particular ‘debate’:
Why are we talking about this? ‘Anymore’ is simply a misspelling of ‘any more’!!! No one (or no-one?) talked about this 50 years ago!
The two versions mean the same, just depends how you want to spell it.
There is actually a difference between the two and as such you should pay attention to which one you use to ensure you use it appropriately.
Let’s talk more about point number three, because well, frankly, there is nothing to discuss with the first two points (and that makes for a dull blog article!).
How about we tackle ANY MORE first.
‘ANY MORE’
‘Any more’ is used to express an indefinite quantity of something (including the smallest amount), similar to ‘some more’. It functions as a determiner.
Do you want any more food? I can’t eat any more food…
Is there any more food left over?
The other instances you might like to consider using the two words is where combining them will change the meaning (that is, of course, if you believe they have different meanings!!).
(I saw this example elsewhere and can’t think of my own, so here it is!) ‘You can’t play basketball any more than I can fly and airplane.’
If this sentence was to use ‘anymore’ it would change the meaning of the sentence…see why under ‘Anymore’.
It is also important use separate words for when ‘more’ modifies an adjective that immediately follows the use of ‘any more’.
This couldn’t be any more exciting!
‘ANYMORE’
‘Anymore’ is used as an adverb to imply ‘no longer’ and is used with negative constructions and a sense of disappointment.
We can’t go out shopping together anymore.
REMEMBER: An Adverb adds context for verbs, adjectives and other adverbs by answering ‘how’, ‘how often’, ‘when’ and/or ‘where’.
FINALLY…
Here is an example I found that niftily outlines the two usages:
‘I DON’T BUY BOOKS ANYMORE BECAUSE
I DON’T NEED ANY MORE BOOKS.’
But as some say, if in doubt always use ‘any more’.