Indefinite Pronouns What is an indefinite pronoun They

Indefinite Pronouns

What is an indefinite pronoun? • They are words that replace nouns without specifying which noun they replace (remember- a noun is a person, place, or thing) • Ex: another, everybody, everyone, everything, each, either, somebody, someone, something, both, few, many, all, most, none

Indefinite pronouns can be singular or plural • Singular: another, everybody, everyone, everything, each, either, somebody, someone, something • Plural: both, few, many, others, several • Singular or plural: all, any, more, most, some

Singular Indefinite Pronouns • Singular indefinite pronouns take singular verbs or singular personal pronouns. • Correct: Each of the members has one vote. • (The subject, each, is singular. Use has. ) • Incorrect: One of the girls gave up their seat. • Correct: One of the girls gave up her seat. • (Her refers to one, which is singular. )

Plural Indefinite Pronouns • Plural indefinite pronouns take plural verbs or plural personal pronouns. • Correct: A few of the justices were voicing their opposition. • (Few is plural, so are were and their. ) • Incorrect: Both of the men was going to work. • (Both is plural, but was is not. )

Singular or plural indefinite pronouns • For indefinite pronouns that can be singular or plural, it depends on what the indefinite pronoun refers to. • Correct: All of the people clapped their hands. • (All refers to people, which is plural. ) • Correct: All of the newspaper was soaked. • (Here all refers to newspaper, which is singular. )

Can you find the indefinite pronoun(s) in the sentence? • I wanted to see them all. • All • She wanted to go to the movies to see someone. • Someone • Something woke me up. • Something

Can you identify if these indefinite pronouns are singular or plural? • • There is something outside. Something= singular All of my friends are at the movies. All refers to friends, which is plural) Both of the roads are closed. Both= plural Can we see some of the movie? Some refers to movie which is singular

Is the indefinite pronoun used correctly? • • • All of the people was watching the show. No I see someone in the house. Yes Most of the movie is over. Yes Is most of the people outside? No Both of the kids is riding bikes. no

Remember • Indefinite pronouns are words that replace nouns, but are not specific • They can be singular or plural, depending on what they are referring to (singular- one noun; plural- more then one noun) • Indefinite pronouns and their verbs must agree (plural indefinite pronoun= plural verb and singular indefinite pronoun = singular verb)