Hi Giuli :)) That is a very good explanation from a non-native. Sometimes In English, there are occasions when we cannot easily explain something to a learner whose native language is not English. We just reply with, "that's just the way it is you have to remember it and don't forget" This may be one of those occasions for Sonia. "If I became President, I could pardon ANY-ONE prisoner" may be understood by many to mean any singular prisoner, but it doesn't sound grammatically correct". I believe that for modern writing especially for American English it would be 'any-one prisoner'. - ----- any and one now joined but not as anyone a totally different word. "any one prisoner" is nonsensical you have any+ a(one) = any + one (a) prisoner. = two prisoners. Late edit explanation "any-one" is not same as "anyone" "anyone" = any person prisoner or not. "anyone prisoner" = a person ? + prisoner "anyone prisoner" = two prisoners or two people first one ? + second is a prisoner. "any-one" prisoner the correct way to write it = any singular prisoner or a singular prisoner.

I'm not a native English speaker, sorry for being an … intruder here! I will try to answer your question, however I will be waiting for native speakers to confirm my answer or not. I think that people on italki say that 'if you have any question' doesn't sound right because usually in a case like that ANY means SOME, I mean, it's the same as 'SOME' which you use in negative sentences, or in questions or in clauses with 'if'. It means 'A CERTAIN NUMBER OF', so it's PLURAL, so you should say 'ANY QUESTIONS'. The 'ANY' in the sentence 'If I am president, I can pardon ANY prisoner', is another kind of 'ANY', it doesn't mean 'A CERTAIN NUMBER OF' prisoners, it means 'WHICHEVER prisoner', 'IT DOESN'T MATTER WHICH prisoner', and it's used with SINGULAR nouns. But how many prisoners do you mean to pardon? Well, in a sentence like that, it's not specified 'how many', even though 'prisoner' is singular, it could be just one or more than one. However, if you would like to pardon only ONE prisoner, you could specify that with 'ONE'. You could say: If i became President, I could pardon ANY ONE who is prisoner, or ANY ONE of the prisoners (who are in jail).

COUNTABLE and UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS is the answer. The prisoner is referring to any prisoner not all (countable prisoners), in this sentence. The president can pardon a prisoner, he can also pardon all prisoners. or he can pardon whichever prisoners or prisoner he chooses. The prisoner should be regarded as the same as a "fruit" in English grammar. I am unable to find an easy to understand link for you, about countable nouns. Internet links on the subject are often not very helpful. "When I am president, I can pardon any prisoner" is more natural phrasing.

I can't tell you exactly why this is. I am English but the English language has certain things which I can't explain! However, you can say "I can pardon any prisoner" or "I can pardon any prisoners". The first (prisoner) would usually refer to pardoning one prisoner at a time, however it is a very general phrase.

I have checked on that, Giulio.