An indefinite pronoun is a
pronoun
In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun (abbreviated ) is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase.
Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the parts of speech, but some modern theorists would not co ...
which does not have a specific familiar
referent. Indefinite pronouns are in contrast to
definite pronouns.
Indefinite pronouns can represent either
count noun
In linguistics, a count noun (also countable noun) is a noun that can be modified by a quantity and that occurs in both singular and plural forms, and that can co-occur with quantificational determiners like ''every'', ''each'', ''several'', ...
s or
noncount nouns. They often have related forms across these categories: universal (such as ''everyone'', ''everything''), assertive existential (such as ''somebody'', ''something''), elective existential (such as ''anyone'', ''anything''), and negative (such as ''nobody'', ''nothing'').
Many languages distinguish forms of indefinites used in affirmative contexts from those
used in non-affirmative contexts. For instance, English "something" can be used only in affirmative contexts while "anything" is used otherwise.
Indefinite pronouns are associated with indefinite
determiners of a similar or identical form (such as ''every'', ''any'', ''all'', ''some''). A pronoun can be thought of as ''replacing'' a noun phrase, while a determiner ''introduces'' a noun phrase and precedes any adjectives that modify the noun. Thus ''all'' is an indefinite determiner in "all good boys deserve favour" but a pronoun in "all are happy".
Table of English indefinite pronoun usage
Most indefinite pronouns correspond to discretely singular or plural usage. However, some of them can entail singularity in one context and plurality in another. Pronouns that commonly connote indefiniteness are indicated below, with examples as singular, plural, or singular/plural usage.
Table of indefinite pronouns
List of quantifier pronouns
English has the following
quantifier pronouns:
;Uncountable (thus, with a singular verb form)
*
enough – ''Enough is enough.''
*
little
Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt
* ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film
*The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...
– ''Little is known about this period of history.''
*
less
Less or LESS may refer to: fewer than,: not as much.
Computing
* less (Unix), a Unix utility program
* Less (stylesheet language), a dynamic stylesheet language
* Large-Scale Scrum (LeSS), a product development framework that extends Scrum
Othe ...
– ''Less is known about this period of history.''
*
much – ''Much was discussed at the meeting.''
*
more
More or Mores may refer to:
Computing
* MORE (application), outline software for Mac OS
* more (command), a shell command
* MORE protocol, a routing protocol
* Missouri Research and Education Network
Music Albums
* ''More!'' (album), by Booka S ...
(also countable, plural) – ''More is better.''
*
most
Most or Möst or ''variation'', may refer to:
Places
* Most, Kardzhali Province, a village in Bulgaria
* Most (city), a city in the Czech Republic
** Most District, a district surrounding the city
** Most Basin, a lowland named after the city
** A ...
(also countable, plural) – ''Most was rotten.'' (Usually specified, such as in ''most of the food''.)
*
plenty – ''Thanks, that's plenty.''
;Countable, singular
*
one – ''One has got through.'' (Often modified or specified, such as in ''a single one'', ''one of them'', etc.)
;Countable, plural
*