While I'm aware of Should nouns after "any" be singular or plural? it does not quite answer my question. I have a simple sentence:
If any of the devices was not switched off, do something.
Is there supposed to be was or were? I was thinking about was since it could be rephrased as:
If any one of the devices was not switched off, do something.
But maybe that does not make any sense at all. Also, this is for a technical documentation where more formal language is preferred, not sure if that makes any difference.
Answer
"Any" can be either singular or plural depending on the context.
"I will marry any girl who answers my email." There are many possible girls out there, but I am presumably only going to marry one of them.
"Any employees who work overtime will receive a bonus." Many employees might qualify.
In your example, the word "of" makes it so that it is not clear whether it is possible for many devices to be left on. That is, if you had said, "If any device ...", "device" is singular, so clearly a singular verb is called for. If you had said, "If any devices ...", then a plural verb would be called for.
The question then is, in context, is it only possible for one device to be left on, or could many devices be left on? I'd guess many, in which case the verb should be plural.
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