"Anyone" vs "someone"

Can you please tell me what the difference between someone and anyone is?

1- Me:- I can't find my bag. I kept it here. Can anyone/someone please tell me where my bag is?

2- John:- Hey, Do you know that Rita has killed her own son.

Me:- How can anyone/someone be so cruel that they kill their own child.

3- John:- Hey Subha, I have come to know that the king of Xyz land has committed suicide.

Me:- It's so strange! How can anyone/someone who has everything commit suicide?

In my experience they are used indiscriminately in BrE.

Banglardon,

Please do not post the same question simultaneously to more than one forum. Doing so wastes our valuable time. Instead, post your question to one forum and wait for replies. If you're not satisfied with those replies, you can try another forum, but please indicate in your thread that you've already asked the same question elsewhere (provide a link), and outline why you were not satisfied with the answers you received already.

Click to expand...

(teechar)

***

Click here and scroll down to the fifth entry to find numerous earlier threads on the same topic.

Try:

I heard that the king of XYZ land has committed suicide.

Let's take your first example because it's a good example to show the different uses:

I can't find my bag. I kept it here. Can anyone/someone please tell me where my bag is?

By using someone, the speaker wants to show that he supposes that at least one of his listeners is able to tell him where his bag is. It could therefore be said with a feeling of impatience or annoyance.

Using anyone does not have this effect.

NOT A TEACHER


Banglardon, here's another example of the difference.

Let's say that your job is to clean a hotel room. If you want to know whether a guest might be inside, you would open the door a bit and loudly ask, "Excuse me, is anyone in the room?" But if you suspect that maybe there is a guest inside (because you heard some noise), you might ask, "Excuse me, is someone in the room?"