We’ve been talking about pronouns a lot recently, I know, but we haven’t covered them all just yet. So, let me introduce another group of pronouns today, indefinite pronouns. You use them a lot, so let’s try to systematize what we know about them.
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What Are Indefinite Pronouns?
So, what are indefinite pronouns in the first place? Well, as all pronouns, they’re used instead of nouns. These particular pronouns are used instead of nouns that are not specified. They tell us something about the nouns, but we only have partial knowledge.
Have a look at these sentences with the indefinite pronouns EVERYONE and SOMETHING:
EVERYONE wants to be happy.
EVERYONE needs a friend.
One of the boys has SOMETHING on his head.
They’re all laughing. SOMETHING must have made them laugh.
Here EVERYONE doesn’t refer to any particular person, but rather to all people in general. So, what does this pronoun tell us about the unspecified noun it stands for? Well, it tells us that the noun refers to people rather than things.
As far as the other pronouns is concerned, SOMETHING, it refers to an unspecified thing, not a person. But we can’t say anything more about the thing.
There are quite a few indefinite pronouns in English. Let’s try to classify them somehow and talk about them in more detail.
Classification of Indefinite Pronouns
We’re going to classify indefinite pronouns in an informal way. The first criterion is whether they’re used for people or things. There are three possibilities here:
– pronouns used only for people,
– pronouns used only for things,
– pronouns used for both people and things.
The second criterion is whether they’re followed by a singular or plural form of the verb. Again, there are three possibilities:
– pronouns always followed by the singular form of the verb,
– pronouns always followed by the plural form of the verb,
– pronouns followed by either the singular or the plural form of the verb.
We’re going to focus on the first criterion now and discuss the three groups of pronouns one by one.
Pronouns Used Only for People
In this group we have all the pronouns tat end in -ONE or -BODY. Actually they are interchangeable, maybe with the latter being slightly less formal. These include:
SOMEONE / SOMEBODY
ANYONE / ANYBODY
NO ONE / NOBODY
EVERYONE / EVERYBODY
Besides, there are the impersonal pronouns ONE, YOU and THEY and some more:
WHOEVER / WHOSOEVER
WHOMEVER / WHOMSOEVER
As far as the pronouns WHOEVER / WHOSOEVER and WHOMEVER / WHOMSOEVER, the second one in each pair is rarely used nowadays, maybe except for very formal or literary language. The form WHOMEVER is used as an object and is often replaced by the more common form WHOEVER.
All of these pronouns are followed by the singular form of the verb, except for the impersonal THEY, which is followed by the plural form of the verb.
And now let’s have a look at some examples.
Jack: Hey, come on, EVERYBODY knows how to use a hammer. THEY teach it at school. WHOEVER taught you…
Steve: NO ONE taught me.
Jack: Really? Then ask WHOMEVER you like how to do it. I’m sure SOMEONE will show you.
Steve: YOU never know. ONE doesn’t use hammers as often as when you were young.
Jack: OK, I’ll show you how to use the hammer. ANYONE can learn it.
In the example above we used the impersonal pronouns ONE, YOU and THEY. We call them impersonal because they do not refer to any particular person, but rather to any person in general. Have a look:
THEY teach it at school.
People in general (presumably teachers) teach it at school.
YOU never know. ONE doesn’t use hammers as often as when you were young.
People in general don’t know that. They don’t use hammers as often anymore.
Pronouns Used Only for Things
Some indefinite pronouns are used just for things. Here belong all the pronouns that end in -THING, like:
SOMETHING
ANYTHING
NOTHING
EVERYTHING
Here also belong some pronouns that are used to talk about quantities. They include:
MUCH
LITTLE
LESS
ENOUGH
Besides, there are:
THIS
SUCH
WHATEVER
WHICHEVER
They are all followed by the singular form of the verb, except for SUCH, which may be followed by either the singular or the plural form of the verb. The pronoun SUCH refers to something that was stated before. Here are some examples of indefinite pronouns used for things. Pay special attentions to the pronoun SUCH, which is used twice, in both singular and plural.
seven years later…
Jack: So, you decided to quit because you don’t think you can learn how to use the hammer?
Steve: Exactly, THIS seems impossible to master.
Jack: Fine, if SUCH is your decision, I’ll have to let you go. When you first came here, SOMETHING was telling me you could learn ANYTHING.
Steve: SUCH were my beginnings here. I could do EVERYTHING. But NOTHING lasts forever. I’m old and tired now. And I don’t learn new stuff so fast anymore.
Jack: WHATEVER you decide, I’ll respect it. It’s your life. You must find a job that suits your needs, so go and choose WHICHEVER you like.
Steve: I just realized I know so LITTLE. No one is going to hire me.
Jack: I think you know ENOUGH. It took you seven years to learn how to correctly hold the hammer. Learning how to use it should take even LESS, I’m pretty sure.
Pronouns Used For Both People and Things
The last group of indefinite pronouns contains pronouns that can be used for both people and things. Some of them are used in singular, some in plural and yet others can be used in both singular and plural. Let’s start with pronouns that are always followed by the singular form of the verb.
Pronouns Followed by Singular Verb Forms
Here belong the following pronouns:
ANOTHER
OTHER
EACH
EITHER
ONE
You may have noticed that we already mentioned the pronoun ONE when we were talking about pronouns that are always used for people. But this is a different ONE. It’s a quantifier, as opposed to the impersonal pronoun we used back then. You will see the difference in the examples.
Speaking of which…
So, let’s start with the pronoun ONE. Here you can see again how we used it as an impersonal pronoun for a person:
ONE doesn’t use hammers as often as when you were young.
And now let’s see how it’s used as a quantifier:
You can see two men working together. ONE is old and smart, the OTHER is just old.
Here the pronoun ONE is used for a person. By the way, we also used the pronoun OTHER in this example. And now let’s see how it’s used for a thing:
Steve: Maybe it’s about the hammer. Maybe I can’t learn how to use this ONE. Maybe I could learn how to use the OTHER…
Jack: Oh, come on Steve, it isn’t it. I’m sure you would have the same problem with EITHER.
Steve: I don’t know. EACH is different. Maybe I need yet ANOTHER.
Here the pronouns are used for things. But they could be used for people as well:
The two men are working together, but EITHER could do the job on his own. Maybe EACH should do just part of the job.
Pronouns Followed by Plural Verb Forms
Then there are indefinite pronouns used for both people and things that are followed by the plural form of the verb. Here belong:
MANY
FEW
FEWER
SEVERAL
BOTH
OTHERS
Have a look:
Here we are, on a busy street in the city center. Look at all those people…
MANY are hurrying somewhere. Only FEW are standing and talking with OTHERS. Even FEWER are just standing and relaxing. Probably SEVERAL are already late for work. Two of them are criminals, but BOTH are hiding in the crowd.
These pronouns were used for people. And now let’s use them for things.
And look at all those buses. There are MANY, but FEWER than last week. SEVERAL are moving up the street. OTHERS are moving in the opposite direction. Only FEW are new. Two buses crashed. BOTH are severely damaged.
Pronouns Followed by Singular or Plural Verb Forms
Finally, some pronouns can be followed by both singular and plural verb forms, depending on the context. Here belong:
SOME
ANY
ALL
MORE
MOST
NONE
NEITHER
PLENTY
Here are some examples with the pronouns followed by plural forms of verbs.
Look at the buildings. SOME are falling apart. MOST were built a long time ago. NONE of them is/are brand-new. How many buildings are there? There are PLENTY on the right and even MORE on the left. Almost ALL are rented. I don’t think there are ANY left.
Now an example with the pronouns followed by singular verb forms.
Look at that traffic. MOST of it is slow, but SOME is pretty fast. And that terrible noise! There’s PLENTY of it everywhere. There’s going to be even MORE in an hour. ALL is filled with it. I’m wondering if there is ANY in the middle of the night. Maybe there’s NONE.
As you can see, sometimes you can use either the singular or the plural form of the verb with the pronoun NONE.
When talking about the buildings, you can say:
NONE of them IS brand-new.
or
NONE of them ARE brand-new.
There’s a similar situation with the pronoun NEITHER.
According to prescriptive grammar, we should use the singular form. And we actually use the singular form if the pronoun is not followed by OF:
I have two questions about the city. NEITHER IS easy to answer.
However, in informal speech, we often use the plural form when the pronoun is followed by OF. So, we could use either form:
NEITHER of the questions IS easy to answer.
or
NEITHER of the questions ARE easy to answer.
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