A colleague drafting a trust posited the following question: “What is the difference between anyone and any one?” For example:
- I or anyone else, other than the Beneficiary, a parent of the Beneficiary, or any person serving as the Trustee, may transfer property to the Trustee.
Should the trust read anyone or any one? Answer: anyone. Why? Because anyone means anybody; any one means any one of a specified group. Dictionary.com’s definition of anyone includes a usage note to differentiate anyone from any one:
Anyone: any person at all; anybody
Usage: as a pronoun meaning “anybody” or “any person at all” is written as one word: Does anyone have the correct time? The two-word phrase any one means “any single member of a group of persons or things” and is often followed by of: Can any one of the members type? Any one of these books is exciting reading. Anyone is somewhat more formal than anybody.
See Dictionary.com, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/anyone.
***Memory trick: Think of any one as usually being followed by of (any one of you, any one of the team).
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