When Subjects Are Indefinite Pronouns

Personal pronouns can serve as subjects. It’s fairly simple to figure out which ones are singular and which are plural: I, he, she, and it are singular and agree with singular verbs; we and they are plural and need plural verbs. You can be singular or plural, depending on whether it refers to one person or more than one. However, when indefinite pronouns are the subjects of sentences, subject-verb agreement problems can arise. It’s not as easy to determine whether these types of pronouns are singular or plural.

Most indefinite pronouns agree with singular verbs, even though every- and some- would seem to indicate more than one. Think about this, though: one, body, and thing are all singular, right? That’s the clue as to why the pronouns in the first three rows of the table below are singular. You will need to commit the bottom row to memory.

One words	One	Anyone	Everyone	Someone	No one
Body words		Anybody	Everybody	Somebody	Nobody
Thing words		Anything	Everything	Something	Nothing
		Each	Either	Neither

Stop for a moment and notice that the previous sentence illustrates an important point to remember: Sometimes many words, phrases, and/or clauses separate the main subject and its verb, but no matter how long the sentence is, the subject and verb must agree.

Don’t get frustrated and become lost in the words; instead, remind yourself of the process we’ve already discussed. Systematically find the verb and ask yourself, “Who or what (put the verb in the blank)?” The answer, as you know, is the subject, and all you have to do then is to determine its number and be certain the verb agrees with that number.

A few indefinite pronouns—including both, few, many, and several—are plural and need a plural verb.

Sample sentence, “Both seems happy with the decision.” has a red arrow from “Both” to “seem”. Sample sentence, “Few like to work that hard.” has a red arrow from “Few” to “like”. Sample lesson, “Many of the band members were ill.” has a red arrow from “Many” to “were”. Sample sentence, “Several of them, including the drummer, Rick, who is never pleasant, want to skip the concert.” has a red arrow from “Several” to “want”.

Six indefinite pronouns (all, any, more, most, none, some) can be singular or plural subjects, depending on whether the word they refer to is singular or plural.

Sample sentence, “All of your anger is forgiven.” has a red arrow from “All” to “is”. Sample sentence, “All of the cookies were sold.” has a red arrow from “All” to “were”. Sample sentence, “Most of the money is due tomorrow.” has a read arrow from “Most” to “is”. Sanple sentence, “Lost spend the day relaxing on the beach.” has a red arrow from “Most” to “spend”.

Check your understanding of this section by taking this short quiz. Read each sentence carefully to determine its verb and subject(s). Before you select an answer, try to identify the verb and subject(s). If the subject and verb agree, click YES; if they don’t, click NO.