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 n ...
which does not have a specific familiar
referent
A referent () is a person or thing to which a name – a linguistic expression or other symbol – refers. For example, in the sentence ''Mary saw me'', the referent of the word ''Mary'' is the particular person called Mary who is being spoken of, ...
. Indefinite pronouns are in contrast to
definite
In linguistics, definiteness is a semantic feature of noun phrases, distinguishing between referents or senses that are identifiable in a given context (definite noun phrases) and those which are not (indefinite noun phrases). The prototypical d ...
pronouns.
Indefinite pronouns can represent either
count nouns or
noncount noun
In linguistics, a mass noun, uncountable noun, non-count noun, uncount noun, or just uncountable, is a noun with the syntactic property that any quantity of it is treated as an undifferentiated unit, rather than as something with discrete elemen ...
s. 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
determiner
A determiner, also called determinative (abbreviated ), is a word, phrase, or affix that occurs together with a noun or noun phrase and generally serves to express the reference of that noun or noun phrase in the context. That is, a determiner m ...
s 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 may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Enough'' (film), a 2002 film starring Jennifer Lopez
* "Enough" (''CSI: NY''), an episode of the TV series
*"Enough", an episode of ''Tru Calling''
Songs
* "Enough" (Tarja Turunen song), 2009
* "Eno ...
– ''Enough is enough.''
*
little – ''Little is known about this period of history.''
*
less – ''Less is known about this period of history.''
*
much
Much may refer to:
*Much (TV channel), a cable network in Canada and its domestic and international spin-offs
*Much TV, a satellite cable channel in Taiwan
* ''Much'' (album), a 2001 album by Ten Shekel Shirt
* Much the Miller's Son, one of Robin ...
– ''Much was discussed at the meeting.''
*
more (also countable, plural) – ''More is better.''
*
most (also countable, plural) – ''Most was rotten.'' (Usually specified, such as in ''most of the food''.)
*
plenty
Plenty may refer to:
Places
* Plenty, Victoria, a town in Australia
* Plenty River (Victoria), a river in the Australian state of Victoria
*Plenty River (Northern Territory), a river in the Northern Territory of Australia
* Plenty, Tasmania, a sma ...
– ''Thanks, that's plenty.''
;Countable, singular
*
one
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
– ''One has got through.'' (Often modified or specified, such as in ''a single one'', ''one of them'', etc.)
;Countable, plural
*
several – ''Several were chosen.''
*
few
Few may refer to:
People
* Bobby Few (1935–2021), an American musician
* Francis E. Walter, an American politician from Pennsylvania
* Ignatius Alphonso Few (1789–1845), an American preacher and academic, first president of Emory College (no ...
– ''Few were chosen.''
*
fewer
''Fewer'' versus ''less'' is the debate revolving around grammatically using the words ''fewer'' and ''less'' correctly. The common perspective of today is that ''fewer'' should be used (instead of ''less'') with nouns for countable objects and ...
– ''Fewer are going to church these days.''
*
many
Many may refer to:
* grammatically plural in number
*an English quantifier used with count nouns indicating a large but indefinite number of; at any rate, more than a few
;Place names
* Many, Moselle, a commune of the Moselle department in Franc ...
– ''Many were chosen.''
*
more (also uncountable) – ''More were ignored.'' (Often specified, such as in ''more of us''.)
*
most (also uncountable) – ''Most would agree.''
Possessive forms
Some of the English indefinite pronouns above have
possessive
A possessive or ktetic form (abbreviated or ; from la, possessivus; grc, κτητικός, translit=ktētikós) is a word or grammatical construction used to indicate a relationship of possession in a broad sense. This can include strict owne ...
forms. These are made as for nouns, by adding '' 's'' or just an apostrophe following a plural ''-s'' (see
English possessive
In English, possessive words or phrases exist for nouns and most pronouns, as well as some noun phrases. These can play the roles of determiners (also called possessive adjectives when corresponding to a pronoun) or of nouns.
For nouns, noun phra ...
).
The most commonly encountered possessive forms of the above pronouns are:
*''one's'', as in "One should mind one's own business."
*those derived from the singular indefinite pronouns ending in ''-one'' or ''-body'': ''nobody's'', ''someone's'', etc. (Those ending ''-thing'' can also form possessives, such as ''nothing's'', but these are less common.)
*''whoever's'', as in "We used whoever's phone that is."
*those derived from ''other'' and its variants: ''the other's'', ''another's'', and the plural ''others: "We should not take others' possessions."
*''either's'', ''neither's''
Most of these forms are identical to a form representing the pronoun plus ''-'s'' as a
contraction of ''is'' or ''has''. Hence ''someone's'' may also mean ''someone is'' or ''someone has'', as well as serving as a possessive.
Compound indefinite pronouns
Two indefinite pronouns can sometimes be used in combination together.
:Examples: We should respect ''each other''. People should love ''one another''.
And they can also be made possessive by adding an apostrophe and ''s''.
:Examples: We should respect ''each other's'' beliefs. We were checking ''each other's'' work.
See also
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References
Bibliography
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External links
Using Indefinite Pronouns
{{Authority control
Pronouns