GRAMMAR - Anyone and Everyone or Any One and Every One?

The compound pronouns anyone or everyone mean "any person" and "all the people," respectively.

The non-compound modified pronoun any one or every one put a greater emphasis on the word one and mean "any single person or thing" and "every single person or thing." They are usually followed by a prepositional phrase beginning with the word of.

Examples:
"Did anyone see the eclipse last night?" (any person)

"Did you send for any one of the free samples?" (any single thing)

"Is everyone ready to begin?" (all the people)

"The raccoon ate every one of the ears of corn." (every single thing)


The indefinite pronoun anyone (one word) refers to any person but not to particular individuals. Any one (two words) is an adjective phrase that refers to specific but unidentified things or individuals. (A similar distinction applies to anybody and any body, nobody and no body.)

Examples:
"The enemy is anyone who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on. Any one of your buddies, if he's careless enough, could turn out to be your enemy."