The correct answer is "I bought some cheese, but I didn't buy any bread", which uses "some" in an affirmative sentence and "any" in a negative sentence.
Negation
If your native language uses double negatives (I don't see nothing) — like Russian, Spanish, or French — you've probably been told this is wrong in English and not been entirely sure what the fix is. Standard English uses one negative per clause: either I saw nothing or I didn't see anything, never both. Once you internalise that single rule, your written English clears up a lot.
Negation in English uses not after an auxiliary or modal verb: I am not going. Without an auxiliary, you add do-support (I do not go). Negative words like never and nobody already negate the clause — adding not on top creates non-standard double negatives.
Demonstrative
If you've ever pointed at something and said that one!, you've used a demonstrative. They're the four pointing words — this, that, these, those — that English uses constantly to specify which item you mean. Get them wrong (these book, those is mine) and the sentence sounds clearly off; get them right and you can refer to anything within sight or recent memory without naming it.
Demonstratives point to which entity you mean: this/these for near, that/those for further. They function as both pronouns (Put that on) and determiners before a noun (Put that coat on).
Determinative
If you've wondered why grammar books sometimes call the, this, and my "determinatives" and other times "determiners", you've spotted a useful distinction. The two terms aren't synonyms: one names a word class, the other names a job. Once that clicks, references in modern grammar books stop being confusing.
A determinative is a part of speech — a word class including articles (a, the), demonstratives (this, that), possessives (my, your), and quantifiers (some, many). A determiner is the syntactic role these words usually play before a noun.
A1 | Elementary | Beginners
If you can say your name, ask Where is the toilet?, and read a simple bus sign — but freeze when someone speaks at normal speed — you're at A1. That's not a problem to fix; it's the level where most learners actually live for a while, and recognising it lets you pick the right material instead of drowning in advanced grammar that wasn't meant for you yet.
A1 is the starting level of the CEFR framework, covering basic everyday communication: greetings, introductions, simple personal questions, present-tense forms of be/have/do, and core determiners and prepositions.
Difficulty: Easy
If a textbook leaves you confused, sometimes the issue isn't the topic — it's that the practice material is layered with extra complications. Filtering by Easy strips that away. You get one rule at a time, in plain everyday language, with no trick questions. It's how you make a shaky foundation solid before stacking more on top.
The Easy difficulty tag marks beginner-level questions and challenges — typically A1 or early A2. Single-rule focus, short sentences, common vocabulary, one clear correct answer.