Pronouns & Agreement

Indefinite Pronouns

Indefinite pronouns refer to non-specific people or things. They include everyone, someone, anyone, no one, everything, something, anywhere, and nothing. Getting their grammar right — especially subject-verb agreement — is essential for fluent English.

Indefinite Pronouns for People

Use everyone/everybody, someone/somebody, anyone/anybody, and no one/nobody to refer to unspecified people. They all take a singular verb, even though they feel plural. "Everyone is here." — not "Everyone are here." In informal English, we often use "they" as a singular pronoun after these words.

Practice

Everyone in the class ___ to bring their passport to the exam.

Is thereI can speak to about this problem?

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Indefinite Pronouns for Things & Places

For things, use everything, something, anything, and nothing. For places, use everywhere, somewhere, anywhere, and nowhere. The same rule applies — these all take singular verbs. "Everything is fine." "There's nowhere to sit." Notice that "nothing" and "nowhere" already make the sentence negative, so you should not add "not".

Practice

There's ___ to sit. The room is completely full.

I've lookedbut I can't find my keys.

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Avoiding Double Negatives

In standard English, you must not use two negatives in the same clause. Do not say "I don't know nothing" — say "I don't know anything" OR "I know nothing." The mistake of using two negatives (double negative) is understood in informal speech but considered incorrect in written or formal English.

Practice

Which sentence is grammatically correct?

She didn't sayto me all morning.

Put the words in the correct order to make a correct sentence:

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