Indefinite Adjectives vs Indefinite Pronouns

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In one of my previous posts we were talking about indefinite pronouns. But there are also indefinite adjectives that have the same forms as the pronouns. How to tell them apart? Well, this is easy. Indefinite pronouns, as all pronouns, stand on their own, so they are not accompanied by a noun phrase. Indefinite adjectives, on the other hand, are followed by a noun phrase. A noun phrase, by the way, is the noun with everything that comes along with it and modifies it, so an article, adjectives, all sorts of determiners or other nouns. In the simplest case a noun phrase consists of just a single noun.

Anyway, some of the indefinite pronouns that we saw in the other post can be used as indefinite adjectives if followed by a noun phrase, but not all of them. For example, the pronouns ending in -ONE or -BODY, like SOMEONE, EVERYBODY or NOBODY, can’t be used as indefinite adjectives, which means, they are always used on their own. The same is true about pronouns ending in -THING, like NOTHING or ANYTHING.

Have a look:

EVERYBODY was dancing on the street.

SOMEONE took a picture of them.

I think they were celebrating SOMETHING.

But many other indefinite pronouns can. Let’s have a look at some examples.

Table of Contents

MUCH, MANY, MORE, MOST, LITTLE, FEW, LESS, FEWER

So, here are some pronouns used to talk about quantities. They may be used as adjectives as well.

PRONOUN	Look at those guys. MANY are dancing and laughing.
ADJECTIVE	MANY PEOPLE come here and do it every morning before work.

PRONOUN	But they’re laughing LESS than yesterday.
ADJECTIVE	And there is LESS DANCING as well.

PRONOUN	MOST must hurry to work.
ADJECTIVE	MOST PEOPLE can’t stay any longer.

SUCH, WHATEVER, WHICHEVER

Here we have SUCH, WHATEVER and WHICHEVER. They can be used as both pronouns and adjectives.

PRONOUN	They broke up but now they’re dating again. SUCH was their decision.
ADJECTIVE	They’re SUCH A NICE COUPLE.

PRONOUN	WHATEVER was the problem, I’m glad they sorted it out.
ADJECTIVE	WHATEVER REASON they had to split, it must have been serious.

PRONOUN	They borrowed a bike. They could borrow WHICHEVER they wanted.
ADJECTIVE	This date is going to rock, WHICHEVER WAY they decide to go.

ANOTHER, OTHER, OTHERS

Next, there are ANOTHER, OTHER and OTHERS. Look at how we can use them.

PRONOUN	The girl in the red dress is dancing with Jake. She doesn’t want to dance with the OTHERS.
ADJECTIVE	The OTHER GIRLS often swap partners.

PRONOUN	This dance was pretty long. They don’t have time for ANOTHER.
ADJECTIVE	This is just ANOTHER ORDINARY DAY, nothing special.

EITHER, NEITHER

Then we have the pronouns EITHER and NEITHER.

PRONOUN	Look at these cats. You can play with EITHER.
ADJECTIVE	I only have time to play with one of them. EITHER CAT will do.

PRONOUN	We feed them regularly. NEITHER is hungry.
ADJECTIVE	And NEITHER CAT is afraid of people. They trust everyone.

SOME, ANY

Let’s have a look at the pronouns SOME and ANY next.

PRONOUN	SOME look happier than others.
ADJECTIVE	I think I know SOME GUYS here.

PRONOUN	I don’t know ANY in person, though.
ADJECTIVE	Do you know ANY GIRLS too?

ALL, NONE, NO

ALL can be used as a pronoun or as an adjective. NONE is only used as a pronoun, but you can use the corresponding indefinite adjective NO. Have a look.

PRONOUN	ALL they need is love.
ADJECTIVE	Yes, ALL ANIMALS need love.

PRONOUN	I used to have a pet when I was little, but now I have NONE.
ADJECTIVE	NO PETS are allowed in that hotel.

Other Indefinite Pronouns and Adjectives

And there are some other indefinite pronouns that can be used as adjectives as well. Here are some of them.

PRONOUN	They are not professional dancers, but they know ENOUGH to come here and dance.
ADJECTIVE	There’s ENOUGH ROOM for everybody.

PRONOUN	EACH of them works somewhere.
ADJECTIVE	One of the guys has danced with EACH GIRL at least twice.

PRONOUN	The ONE on the right is a dentist.
ADJECTIVE	The girl in the red dress wants to become a professional dancer ONE DAY.

PRONOUN	SEVERAL come here twice a day, in the morning and after work.
ADJECTIVE	SEVERAL GIRLS would like to dance all day, but they can’t.

PRONOUN	Look at the dentist again. He’s dancing with his wife. BOTH are dentists actually.
ADJECTIVE	BOTH DENTISTS often clandestinely /klænˈdɛstən/ look at other people’s teeth.

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