By Laura Payne
As useful as they can be, singular indefinite pronouns can also be problematic. The reason for this is that students often mistake singular indefinite pronouns for plural pronouns, and this leads to problems with subject-verb agreement, and subject-verb agreement plays a crucial role in constructing grammatically correct sentences. Here’s how you can help your children remember which indefinite pronouns are singular and take the singular form of verbs.
What are Indefinite Pronouns?
To start with, pronouns are words that take the place of nouns and refer to a specific person, a group of people or a thing, for example, he, she, they and it. Indefinite pronouns are not definite, which means they don’t refer to a specific person, group of people or thing.
Why are Singular Indefinite Pronouns Problematic?
When encountering some of the singular indefinite pronouns, students may think they are plural, for example, they may think that everyone and everybody are plural because they interpret these pronouns as every person in a group rather than the correct every single individual. However, most native English speakers will realize that sentences with these pronouns and plural verbs do not sound correct, for example, “Everybody are at the movies.”
The pronouns each, either and neither are also tricky. Consider the following sentences:
Each of the seventeen students are required to bring a book to class to share.
Neither of the two teammates want to sit on the bench.
Either of the camps are fun for kids on summer vacation.
Each of the sentences above may sound correct to some individuals, but they are not. The verb in each sentence is in the plural form. The sentences should read as follows:
Each of the seventeen students is required to bring a book to class to share.
Neither of the two teammates wants to sit on the bench.
Either of the camps is fun for kids on summer vacation.
The Singular Indefinite Pronouns
| no one | nothing | nobody | |
| anyone | anything | anybody | |
| someone | something | somebody | |
| everyone | everything | everybody | |
| one | each | either | neither |
→ These pronouns always take singular verbs.
Help Your Children Recognize Singular Indefinite Pronouns
When viewing the list of singular indefinite pronouns, a few things should stand out to you. Look at the columns. Thirteen of the 16 singular indefinite pronouns include the word one, thing or body. Additionally, the words each, either and neither can all be followed by the word one without changing the meaning of a sentence.
→ When an indefinite pronoun ends in the word one, thing or body, it is a singular pronoun.
→ The indefinite pronouns each, either and neither can be followed by the word one without changing the meaning of a sentence; this means that they are singular pronouns too.
With these pointers in mind, your can help your children recognize a singular indefinite pronoun when they see one; all they have to do is remember the key words one, thing and body.
Practice Sentences
1. Each of the children (has, have) a skateboard.
2. Nobody (is, are) at the park today.
3. Someone (has, have) his favorite comic book.
4. Everybody (works, work) on the art project that is due tomorrow.
5. Neither of the lead actors (was, were) on the stage.
6. They are starting the game since everybody (has, have) arrived.
7. Either movie (looks, look) good to me.
8. I keep asking Jack and Max but neither (answers, answer) me.
9. Each (gets, get) a large box of popcorn.
10. Anything (is, are) possible if you work hard.
Hint: Remember to insert the word one after each, either and neither. It also helps to mentally remove any prepositional phrase that may follow an indefinite pronoun; this makes the correct form of the verb more obvious. See the following example from sentence 1:
Each of the children (has, have) a skateboard.
Each one (has, have) a skateboard.
Answers: 1. has, 2. is, 3. has, 4. works, 5. was, 6. has, 7. looks, 8. answers, 9. gets, 10. is
About Laura Payne
A self-confessed language nerd, Laura Payne is the mother of two boys, and she is a part-time English teacher. She has also done freelance writing about several topics including the structure and grammar of English.
