19 Tricky Situation: Indefinite Pronouns

I think the best way to start this section is with short passage.

I don’t care if we leave tonight or tomorrow. Each fits my schedule.

If you’re reading that second sentence and the verb sounds a little odd, you’re not alone. It seems like we’re talking here about two different times (tonight or tomorrow), but the verb used in the sentence is singular. The subject and verb don’t seem to agree. However, they actually do! Here’s why.

The word each is a special kind of word called an indefinite pronoun. Indefinite pronouns, like all pronouns, stand in place of a noun. But while many pronouns replace a specific thing (e.g., the pronoun she stands in place of a specific person’s name), indefinite pronouns point to a vague, unknown, or absent person/thing. Words like everyone, anyone, somebody, and nobody are all indefinite pronouns.

The thing to remember about these pronouns is that most of them take singular verbs.

Even though most indefinite pronouns take singular verbs, a few take plural verbs:

And some indefinite pronouns can take either singular or plural verbs, depending on the meaning of the sentence in which they’re used.

That last group might be a little confusing. Let me show you a few examples using the pronoun all to explain.

There are 320 marbles in the jar. All are red.

In this first sentence I’ve used the plural verb because the pronoun all refers to the marbles, which are plural.

I didn’t spill the milk! All is still in the glass.

In this case, the pronoun all refers to the milk, which is a non-count noun, so I use a singular verb.

Right-click on this link and select “Open in a new tab” to open up a list of indefinite pronouns. Then complete the following questions to practice your subject-verb agreement skills.