Indefinite Pronouns

English pronouns are not limited to referring to known people or things; they can also refer to individuals or entities worldwide, make a sentence negative, or represent ambiguous objects. Indefinite pronouns are used for these purposes and are classified into various groups based on their functions.

There are different types of indefinite pronouns and each type is used in a slightly different way.

Assertive indefinite pronouns, also known as assertive existential pronouns, refer to a particular item with a unique feature that is not known or mentioned. Here is the list of assertive indefinite pronouns:

Non-assertive (also called elective existential or elective/dubitative existential) indefinite pronouns refer to a particular item, regardless of its features. They refer to any person/thing without specifying exactly who or what. Here is the list of non-assertive indefinite pronouns:

Universal indefinite pronouns encompass all items in a list, regardless of their nature or identity. Here is a list of these pronouns:

Negative indefinite pronouns refer to the absence of people, things, or places, and include no particular item. Here is a list of these pronouns:

Alternative indefinite pronouns refer to an item or items that are different from a previously mentioned one. They typically indicate the second of two people or things, which is not the one that has already been mentioned or selected.

'Others' is a plural alternative indefinite pronoun. It can be used to refer to both people and things.

We can use 'the other' as a pronoun, especially to refer back to something which has already been mentioned in the sentence.

When the indefinite article 'an' is used before 'other', it is written as one word: 'another'. 'Another' refers to an alternative or different thing or person.

To refer back to an indefinite pronoun, we normally use a plural pronoun:

Normally we cannot add 's' to pronouns to make them possessive. However, we can add 's' to indefinite pronouns to make them possessive:

A negative marker is a word that can be used to make a sentence negative. As shown in the table above, 'negative indefinite pronouns' can serve as negative markers. This means that using these pronouns in a sentence can make the sentence negative without the need to use 'not.' Take a look at this example:

When a negative indefinite pronoun is used in a sentence, using another negative marker in the same sentence is grammatically wrong:

There are different ways of changing a positive sentence to a negative sentence using an indefinite pronoun:

In this case, the best way is to use a negative indefinite pronoun that corresponds to what the pronoun is referring to, whether it is a thing or a person. Take a look at these example:

In this case you can either use a negative indefinite pronoun in a positive sentence or an elective pronoun in a negative sentence. Both of these structures are correct and have the same meaning. Take a look at the examples:

Using indefinite pronouns in negative sentences can be a bit tricky. Not all indefinite pronouns can be used in a negative sentence. The table below can help you understand their usage better:

Indefinite pronouns refer to ambiguous things or people.