Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Indefinite Pronouns: Singular & Plural

I. ALWAYS SINGULAR:
anybody, anyone, anything,
each, either, everybody, everyone, everything
neither, nobody, no one, nothing, one
somebody, someone, and something


II. ALWAYS PLURAL:
both, few, many, several

III. CONTEXT-SENSITIVE:
(i.e., Singular or Plural, depending on its meaning within a sentence: singular when the pronoun refers to a singular word - plural when the pronoun refers to a plural word.)
all, any, more, most, none, some

Examples of a context-sensitive indefinite pronoun in action:

All of the vegetable garden has been planted. (garden is a singular noun)
BUT:
All of the vegetables have been planted. (vegetables is a plural noun)