Posts Tagged ‘pronoun’

Singular indefinite pronouns

Monday, August 2nd, 2010

Although it sounds simple, plural and singular words are not always placed with the appropriate version of a verb. While many people understand what to do for she, we and they, it gets harder for indefinite pronouns (those which refer to something not specific).

The following indefinite pronouns are always singular, even though they might, by implication, suggest many people:

another, anybody, anyone, each, either, every, everybody, everyone,
neither, nobody, no one, one, somebody, someone
Anything is possible in your dreams.
Everybody comes in the front door.

There are a few indefinite pronouns that may be singular or plural, depending on their use. They are:

any, all, none, more, most, some
All of us are running late. All is not lost.
None is more important than honesty. None of those books are mine.

He isn’t a good start

Tuesday, April 15th, 2008
 As much as possible, avoid starting any sentence with a pronoun*. Sometimes the pronoun will clearly refer to one person, but often the pronoun is confusing so it is safest to avoid it.

I recently read the following in a book: “As Linda came back into the room, she saw Claire was back from lunch. She smiled at Marie then called Bill.” The question is, who smiled at Marie and rang Bill? The author meant Linda but grammatically the ‘she’ of the second sentence is Claire.

In business writing, that sort of confusion could lead to misunderstandings about who was to do certain tasks, or just annoy the reader so they will take their business elsewhere. Use a name or title to start a sentence for clarity.

 

*For the sake of clear communication, a pronoun is a word that can be used instead of a noun – for example, she, he and it are common pronouns.