Anyone vs. any one

What does anyone mean?

Anyone is a pronoun which is used to reference any person or people, but no one in particular.

For example:

·      Anyone would do what he did.

What does any one mean?

Any one is a more personal form of “any” and refers to a single person or thing which makes up a group.

For example:

·      The witness was asked if they recognised any one of the criminals.

What’s the difference between anyone and any one?

Anyone references no person in particular while any one refers to a single person which makes up a group. If you are unsure which version to use, if you can replace the word with “any”, then you would use any one instead of anyone.

If we wanted to say “It was anyone’s/any one’s guess as to what might happen next” and used any instead, (“It was any’s guess as to what might happen next”) the sentence would be incorrect, so we should use anyone.

This is a good word to keep an eye on as I often see editing software like Grammarly trying to eradicate every mention of any one it can!