Guide to Indefinite Pronouns
12/20/2004

Approximately 95% of student errors with pronouns are due to a lack of knowledge about indefinite pronouns--are they singular or plural?  Students, often not knowing that indefinite pronouns like "anyone" and "anybody" are singular, will use plural definite pronouns with them in sentences.  The result is an ungrammatical sentence such as the following:

    Anyone who hates cats should have their head examined.

Since "anyone" is a singular pronoun, the plural pronoun "their" can't be used in this sentence as it refers to the same hypothetical person.  The grammatical problem in this sentence can be fixed following the same guidelines for eliminating sexist language--either use plural pronouns throughout or re-structure the sentence so no pronouns are necessary.

   People who hate cats should have their heads examined.

    Anyone who hates cats should have his/her head examined.

    Cat haters are not sane people.

Be aware of indefinite pronouns in your writing, and memorize whether or not they're singular or plural.  The following chart may prove helpful.
 
 
 

Singular	Variable (Singular or Plural)	Plural
anybody	all	few
anyone	any	many
anything	either	several
each	more
everybody	most
everyone	neither
everything	none
nobody	some
no one
nothing
somebody
someone
something