The Minor Parts of SpeechIndefinite pronouns
Indefinite pronouns constitute a loose category of words brought together
traditionally by the semantic fact that they do not refer to a specific person,
place, thing, or idea. The common indefinites are listed in Table 5.
all (1) another (1) any (1)
anybody (2) anyone (2) both (1)
each (1) either (1) everybody (2)
everyone (2) few (1) many (1)
most (1) neither (1) nobody (2)
no one (2) none (2) nothing (2)
one (1) other (1) others (2)
several (1) some (1) somebody (2)
someone (2) such (1)
table 5: indefinite pronouns (1 = may be head or modi-
fier; 2 = may be head only)
Occasionally, students will misapply the semantic definition and label as
indefinites generic nouns such as people, collective nouns such as group or
crowd, and abstract nouns such as concern or beauty. Formally, indefinite pro-
nouns have little if anything in common. They are a “leftover” class to which
pronouns that fit in no other category are relegated. The general semantic no-
tion that unifies a majority of indefinites is that of “quantity,” e.g., all, many,
no, etc. For this reason, members of Table 5 are sometimes assigned to a sepa-
rate class called quantifiers.
Indefinites have a limited range of functions, acting only as heads or modi-
fiers. The functions of individual words are indicated in Table 5.
Exercise
Select any five indefinites labeled as (1) in Table 5. For each, give an
example sentence in which the pronoun is used (a) as a head and (b)
as a modifier.
Wh-words
Wh-words, such as who and what, occur in a wide range of construc-
tions. In traditional grammars, they are called interrogative or relative
pronouns. These forms are usually distinguished by the constructions in