Some and any

When do you use "some" and when do you use "any"?

We often say that the rule is to use any for questions and negatives, and some in positive sentences.

"I've got some money."
"Do you have any brothers or sisters?"
"She hasn't got any friends."

This rule is fine as a starting point, but a question in the Help Me! forum today made me think about other situations.

The question was "Which part of this sentence is not correct?":
Can you get some oranges in the tree?

You could use both "some" or "any" in this sentence.
"Can you get some oranges from the tree?" (if you wanted someone to get you the oranges)
Or
Can you get any oranges from the tree? (if you wanted to ask someone if they had the ability to get oranges from the tree)

In requests, we often use "some":
Can you get me some milk, please?
Can you get me some stamps?

In other questions, which are more "general", we can use "any":
Do you know any famous people?
Are there any oranges in the tree?

For more information about some and any, see the page in the grammar section of the site.