Movatterモバイル変換

[0]ホーム

Jump to content

Indefinite pronoun

Edit links

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pronoun without a definite referent

"Anybody" redirects here. For the Young Thug song, seeAnybody (song).

This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Indefinite pronoun" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(March 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Anindefinite pronoun is apronoun which does not have a specific, familiarreferent. Indefinite pronouns are in contrast todefinite pronouns.

Indefinite pronouns can represent eithercount nouns ornoncount nouns. They often have related forms across these categories: universal (such aseveryone,everything), assertive existential (such assomebody,something), elective existential (such asanyone,anything), and negative (such asnobody,nothing).^[1]

Many languages distinguish forms of indefinites used in affirmative contexts from thoseused in non-affirmative contexts. For instance, English "something" can be used only in affirmative contexts while "anything" is used otherwise.^[2]

Indefinite pronouns are associated with indefinitedeterminers of a similar or identical form (such asevery,any,all,some). A pronoun can be thought of asreplacing a noun phrase, while a determinerintroduces 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

[edit]

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

[edit]

Number	Type	Negative	Universal	Assertive existential	Elective/dubitative existential^[a]
Singular	Person	no one (alsono-one),nobody –No one/Nobody thinks that you are mean.	everyone,everybody –Everyone/Everybody has a cup of coffee. Universal distributive:each – "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs".	someone,somebody –Someone/Somebody usually fixes that. one -One gets lost without a map. See alsogenericyou.	anyone,anybody –Anyone/Anybody is welcome to submit an entry. whoever^[b] (nominative case),whomever^[b] (oblique case) –Whoever does that will be punished. Give this to whomever needs it most. See alsowho-.
	Thing	nothing –Nothing is true.	everything –Everything is permitted.	something –Something makes me want to dance.	anything –Anything is better than nothing. whichever –Choose whichever is better. See also-ever.
	Place	nowhere –Nowhere appeals to me; let's not eat out.	everywhere –Everywhere feels different when traveling.	somewhere –Somewhere ison fire in a Canadian forest right now.	anywhere –Anywhere is better than my place. wherever –Sit wherever you'd like.
	Time	never –Never happens twice in life.	forever –Forever makes me crazy.	sometime –Sometime in the past was better than today.	anytime –Anytime is better than never to do it.
Dual		neither (singular) –In the end, neither was selected.	both (plural) –Both were surprised at the other's answer. Both the answers are correct.		either (singular) –Either is sufficient.
Plural			others –Others worry about that.	some/most –Some of the biscuits were eaten but most were still there. Are some of you still hungry? Aren't most of you wanting more biscuits?
Singular or Plural		none –None of those people is related to me. None were deemed suitable in the end.^[c]	all –All is lost. All are where they're supposed to be.	such –Such is life. Such are the foibles of humans.	any –Any is too much. If any taste(s) too salty, I apologize. whatever –Play whatever strike(s) your fancy. Whatever is required will be done.

^Elective existential pronouns are often used with negatives (I can't see anyone), while dubitative existential pronouns are used in questions when there is doubt as to the existence of the pronoun's assumed referent (Is anybody here a doctor?).
^^a ^bArchaic forms are whosoever, whomsoever.
^Some traditional style guides^[who?] state that "none" should always be treated as singular, but the plural sense is well established and widely accepted.

List of quantifier pronouns

[edit]

English has the followingquantifier pronouns:

Uncountable (thus, with a singular verb form)

enough –Enough is enough.
little –Little is known about this period of history.
less –Less is known about this period of history.
much –Much was discussed at the meeting.
more (also countable, plural) –More is better.
most (also countable, plural) –Most was rotten. (Usually specified, such as inmost of the food.)
plenty (also countable, plural)–Thanks, that's plenty.

Countable, singular

one –One has got through. (Often modified or specified, such as ina single one,one of them, etc.)

Countable, plural

several –Several were chosen.
few –Few were chosen.
fewer –Fewer are going to church these days.
many –Many were chosen.
more (also uncountable) –More were ignored. (Often specified, such as inmore of us.)

Possessive forms

[edit]

Some of the English indefinite pronouns above havepossessive forms. These are made as for nouns, by adding 's or just an apostrophe following a plural-s (seeEnglish possessive).

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 asnothing's, but these are less common.)
whoever's, as in "We used whoever's phone that is."
those derived fromother and its variants:the other's,another's, and the pluralothers': "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 acontraction ofis orhas. Hence,someone's may also meansomeone is orsomeone has, as well as serving as a possessive.