We use indefinite pronouns to talk about people, things and ideas without specifying them.

 

Indefinite pronouns may have different forms depending on their use in statements, negative sentences and questions.

 

Someone gave me a call this evening.

 

Is there anybody at home?

 

There’s nothing left on the table.

 

To talk about a person, use ‘anybody’, ‘somebody’, ‘anyone’ and ‘someone’:

 

Peter doesn’t know anybody in his new school.

 

I saw somebody walking down the street.

 

You can ask someone to help you with your bags.

 

To talk about all people in a group, use ‘everyone’ and ‘everybody’:

 

I would like everyone to attend our next meeting.

 

The room is empty. Where is everybody?

 

To talk about no person, use ‘nobody’ and ‘no one’:

 

Nobody knows the troubles I’ve seen.

 

No one in the class could answer the teacher’s question.

 

To talk about availability of some things or ideas, use ‘something’ and ‘anything’:

 

There is something special about Mary.

 

Is there anything I can do for you?

 

To talk about unavailability of things or ideas, use ‘nothing’:

 

James and Timothy have absolutely nothing in common.

 

We did a great job and there is nothing left to do.

 

To talk about availability of all things or ideas, use ‘everything’:

 

I’m leaving for Paris and I want to see everything there.

 

Becky is back to school, everything is fine with her.

 

And to talk about places, use ‘everywhere’, ‘anywhere’, ‘nowhere’ and ‘somewhere’:

 

Let’s go somewhere special.

 

This road leads to nowhere.

 

You can go anywhere you like.

 

Emily couldn’t find her phone, though she looked everywhere.

 

We can also use pronouns beginning with ‘any-’ in statements to mean all people or things, when it doesn’t matter who, what or where:

 

Anyone can play this game.

 

You are free to take anything you like from my clothes.

 

Note: don’t put two negative words in one sentence I didn’t see anything = I saw nothing. NOT I didn’t see nothing.

 

We normally use ‘somebody’, ‘someone’, ‘something’ and ‘somewhere’ in statements and questions:

 

Yesterday I’ve met someone special.

 

Loud noise is heard from somewhere in the street.

 

Could somebody give me a piece of advice?

 

Can I have something to drink?

 

We use ‘anybody’, ‘anyone’, ‘anything’ and ‘anywhere’ in negative sentences and questions:

 

There isn’t anything you can do in this situation.

 

When Peter had arrived, he couldn’t find anyone at home.

Is there anybody going to listen to my story?

 

Would you like to travel anywhere next month?

 

We use ‘nobody’, ‘no one’, ‘nothing’ and ‘nowhere’ in statements and questions:

 

Nobody can understand me better than you.

 

This poor guy has nowhere to live.

 

Why is there no one in the office?

 

You always keep silent, do you have nothing to say?

 

We usually use ‘everybody’, ‘everyone’, ‘everything’ and ‘everywhere’ in statements:

 

Everybody knows this prominent artist.

 

I need everyone to leave this room immediately!

 

This is everything you need to know about her.

 

Spring is everywhere!

 

Note: ‘everyone’, ‘everybody’ and ‘everything’ should be followed by a singular verb Everybody was at the meeting. NOT Everybody were at the meeting.

 

  

We use reflexive pronouns when the object of the verb in the sentence is the same person or thing as the subject.

 

We also can use them to add emphasis to various statements.

 

Mary likes looking at herself in the mirror (herself refers to Mary, not to anybody else)

 

Jack and Evelyn built their house themselves (we emphasize the fact that nobody helped them)

 

Reflexive pronouns are formed like this:

 

Subject pronoun	Object pronoun	Reflexive pronoun
I You He She It We You Them	Me You Him Her It Us You Them	Myself Yourself Himself Herself Itself Ourselves Yourselves Themselves

 

I usually do the cleaning myself.

 

Can you repair this chair yourself?

 

Jane bought herself a new pair of shoes.

 

Jack introduced himself to other people at the meeting.

 

This door locks itself after closing.

 

We must make important decisions ourselves.

 

Be careful, don’t cut yourselves with those knives.

 

Old people often talk to themselves.

 

In many situations we use reflexive pronouns just to emphasize that:

 

• the subject is acting upon itself instead of acting upon another object, or
• to emphasize the importance of the subject.  Consider the following examples:

 

Girls liked them (they liked someone else)

 

Girls liked themselves (subject acted upon itself)

 

I do my laundry myself, and my mother does not help me.

 

The movie itself was not very good, but the soundtrack was awesome.

 

The Queen herself attended the ceremonial reception.

 

We could fix the car ourselves, but Peter decided to take it to the service.

 

We don’t use reflexive pronouns when two or more subjects perform the same reciprocal action. ‘Each other’ is used instead:

 

We looked at each other with admiration (I looked at her, and she looked at me)

 

BUT

 

We looked at ourselves in the mirror (I looked at myself, and she looked at herself)

 

My friends and I are helping each other with the homework.

 

Usually cats and dogs don’t like each other.

 

Children gave each other apples and ate them with pleasure.