In any the case

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

I have a new English teacher and she tends to say "in any the case" whenever I would simply say "in any case".

For example, she says: "In any the case, you can write an example and that will clarify what you mean."
I would say "In any case, you can write an example..."

I had never heard this construction before, and I would like to know your opinion: Is this a regional expression, is it ever used somewhere, and how, or is it just a wrong construction? (...Or are we both wrong?) :blackeye:
If this is a valid expression, can anyone explain to me how this "the" is working?


Thanks in advance for all help provided. :rose:

[caliber1]

¡Hola amiga! I can almost guarantee that the "the" isn't standard. In all my 26 years on earth I've never heard it with the ;).

Mom: "Why didn't you clean your room?!"

Son: "I was too tired."

Mom: "Well, in any case, it needs to be done before you go to bed."

This example came from a real life scenario between me and my mother :whistling:

I ended up cleaning my room:mad:

Hope this helps :)

[Rusty]

Agreed. No article, in any case.

[Perikles]

That is a weird construction, I've never seen it before. Zero hits in the BNC. :thinking:

[aleCcowaN]

"In any the case" looks like a hybrid between "en cualquier/todo caso" (in any case) and "en cualquier caso" (whatever the case [may be]/as the case may be). Is the teacher a Spanish native speaker?

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Thank you all, I'm glad I wasn't wrong to find it strange. :rose: :rose: :rose:



@BJ: You must have slept much better then. ;)

@Alec: Yes, she is, but she has a much more interesting command of English than that; that's why I was disconcerted. Your idea about the mix of both expressions may be a good explanation for this. :)

[Profesoradeespañol]

It is "in any case", "in any the case" doesn't exist.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@Profesora: Thank you. :)

[JPablo]

Well, this is interesting...

Far from my intention to throw a wrench in the works, and/or to gum up the works... but while I agree that this expression doesn't sound standard at all, we could not say that "doesn't exist"... google hits prove to the contrary.

I agree this is not "normal", it is non-standard, and I would not use it, but, "in whatever the case might be" or "in any the case [could be]" I would not go dogmatic in either way and frankly, I would ask your new teacher if there is some reference about it, and/or from where did she pick that odd usage...

In checking the Historical Dictionary in the DRAE site, I found unbelievable things in the Spanish usages of "common" words which have an explanation... while here we are dealing with the most standard usages of English and Spanish, it is always fun to find the whys and wherefores of "expressions"... Knowing them, one can use them or not, and/or understand them or not when they appear in our daily affairs...

"In any the case" might be... don't burn me at the stake!

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Thank you, Pablo. I think you're right and I should have asked her, but never had the chance.
But I trust more Tomísimo's users' opinions on this kind of issues anyway. ;)

[JPablo]

Yup, same here, I just got curious about it, and it is interesting that there are quite some hits on it when you google it... :)

[Rusty]

I'm very surprised to see the number of google hits on an English phrase I've never heard.
There are 200,000,000 more hits on the correct way to say it, so maybe the people who say it wrong all live in the same area and I haven't had the pleasure :rolleyes: of meeting them.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

=) Interesting... when I posted this thread Google didn't offer so many results with the expression. Anyway, I'm happy to see that all related searches spare the "the". :D