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Using someone, anyone, everybody, nothing and similar pronouns.
Indefinite pronouns refer to people, things or quantities without identifying a specific person or object.
Common indefinite pronouns include someone, anyone, everyone, nobody, something and nothing.
Pronouns ending in -body and -one usually have the same meaning.
Examples include somebody/someone, anybody/anyone and everybody/everyone.
Pronouns ending in -thing refer to objects, ideas, situations or actions.
Examples include something, anything, everything and nothing.
Some- pronouns are generally used in affirmative contexts, while any- pronouns are common in negatives, questions and conditional clauses.
Context and speaker intention may affect the choice.
Every- pronouns refer to all members of a group individually.
Although they refer to many people or things, they normally take singular verbs.
No- pronouns express complete absence and normally replace negative verb forms.
Compare Nobody came with Nobody did not come.
When an adjective modifies an indefinite pronoun, it usually follows the pronoun.
Examples include someone interesting, nothing unusual and anybody available.
Indefinite pronouns can form possessives.
Examples include someone's bag, everybody's opinion and nobody's fault.
Pronouns such as everyone, somebody and anyone are often followed by singular they.
Singular they is widely accepted when gender is unknown, irrelevant or inclusive language is preferred.
Most indefinite pronouns ending in -body, -one and -thing take singular verbs.
Some pronouns, such as all, none and some, may take singular or plural verbs depending on the noun they refer to.
The choice of indefinite pronouns sometimes varies according to register.
Formal English may avoid contractions or colloquial combinations, while spoken English uses them freely.
Use indefinite pronouns with the correct verb agreement and sentence structure.
Common mistakes include double negatives, incorrect adjective placement, using plural verbs after everyone and confusing somebody with anybody.