[Haskell-beginners] Why do i need to take out the list for this to work

[Alexander Chen]

hi,

assigment: make your own element function with the any function.

--elem with any
myElemAny :: Eq a => a -> [a] -> Bool
myElemAny a = any (== a)

--elem with any
myElemAny' :: Eq a => a -> [a] -> Bool
myElemAny' a [x]= any (== a) [x]

myElemAny' compiles but throws an error because it has a non-exhaustive pattern. Could somebody tell me why the list gives the function grieveness?

thanks,
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