Three longhorn cows grazing in an ope field.

Activities: “Indefinite pronouns: What are they and how to use them in English?”

By: Erin Kuester
Associated Articles

These activities are part of our English Grammar series. The skills we are practicing here are covered in our article:

Activity 1: Answer the questions

Let’s practice using indefinite pronouns by answering some fun questions! Each question below uses an indefinite pronoun. Try answering the question using your knowledge of indefinite pronouns!

The first question has been done for you as an example.

Hint: Try using the same indefinite pronoun in your answer to practice using them (this isn’t possible for all answers, but try it out!).

ex: What is a food that everyone should try at least once?

I think everyone should try sushi!

  • What’s one thing that everybody in your family likes to do together?

    e.g. Everybody in my family likes to go hiking together.

  • How much does everything you are wearing right now cost?

    e.g. Everything I’m wearing costs about $200 altogether.

  • Have you ever helped anybody do something difficult?

    e.g. Last week I helped someone carry their groceries from the store to their car while it was raining!

  • If you could meet anyone in the world, who would you like to meet?

    e.g. If I could meet anyone in the world, I would like to meet Michelle Obama.

  • If you could have an unlimited amount of anything in your home, what would you choose?

    e.g. If I could have an unlimited supply of anything in my house, I would choose lip balm, because I always have one in every room!

  • What is one thing you do when nobody is around?

    e.g. When no one is around, I like to play music really loudly!

  • What is one food that no one in your family likes?

    e.g. No one in my family likes seafood.

  • What do you do when there is nothing interesting on TV?

    e.g. When there is nothing on TV, I usually play a video game.

  • When was the last time somebody complimented you?

    e.g. Last weekend I went out with friends and someone said they liked my shoes.

  • Who is someone that you admire?

    e.g. Someone who I admire is my grandmother.

  • What is something that you always carry with you?

    e.g. Something that I always carry with me is my purse, which always has my phone, wallet, and car keys.

Activity 2: Describe the pictures

For each of the pictures below, write a sentence using one of the indefinite pronouns in the chart. Feel free to be creative about how you use the indefinite pronoun with the picture – there are no wrong answers.

For example:

Both are enjoying the movie.

Neither of them are wearing green.

A black man in a white jersey and a blonde white woman in a white sweatshirt are smiling and pointing up at the screen in a dark movie theater. They are the only people in their row and the row behind them is also empty, but there are a few other people in the theater.

Possible indefinite pronouns to use:

anybody

anyone

anything

everybody

everyone

everything

nobody

no one

nothing

somebody

someone

something

another

each

either

enough

less

little

much

neither

one

both

few

fewer

many

others

several

all

any

more

most

none

some

Now let’s give it a try! Remember that these pictures are open to interpretation, so these are only some possible answers.

  • A group of three young white people are sitting around a coffee table and laughing in a largely white apartment. The two men are high-fiving across the table while the two women laugh, holding mugs. On the coffee table we can see a teapot and the men's mugs. All four are wearing loungewear. The window to the apartment is cracked open and beyond it we can see a winter tree and a high-rise apartment building.

    e.g. Everyone is having fun and laughing.

  • An East Asian family poses for a photo. The man and boy are in white collared shirts and gray pants, the woman and girl are in matching coral long-sleeved maxi dresses. The man woman and girl are all about the same height, and the boy seems quite a bit younger. They are posed in a historical-looking wooden doorway in an East Asian style, that is opening out into the courtyard, and several painted paper lanterns are hung above it.

    e.g. The paper lamps are beautiful. Several hang over the front door.

  • A crowd of standing people are watching a show or perhaps a sporting event. We are looking at the faces of the people and most of them look to be smiling, yelling, or otherwise looking enthusiastic. Some of them have their hands in the air and they are wearing casual clothes.

    e.g. Some have their hands in the air.

  • A photo of three artisanal burgers lined up on a cutting board. The buns and contents of the burgers all look a little different. Lined up behind them we can see several bottles of sauce, and a sign black handwritten sign with white writing sits beneath them, reading "Vegan Burgers."

    e.g. This person makes vegan burgers. Each looks delicious!

  • A photo of a table full of Mediterranean food taken from above. We can see a plate of pita, a bowl of hummus, a bowl with fried eggs and cherry tomatoes, a rice dish with limes and greens on top, and the corner of a green salad. We can also see several empty plates. A woman's hands reach out over the food and she is touching some of the cherry tomatoes as though arranging them on the plate.

    e.g. The food looks amazing. There is enough for everyone.

  • A modern city street in Asia at night. The buildings have several glass-walled walkways or large walls of glass, and the street is lit in various colors of lights (aqua, purple, red). The street is reasonably crowded with pedestrians and directly in front of us a crosswalk cuts across the road. Though there is signage for cars, the street seems to be mostly used by pedestrians.

    e.g. Few are walking across the street crossing.

  • The interior courtyard of a building. Two stories of walkways surround this enclosed space. The walls of the building are white and on both stories the walkways are separated from the courtyard by North African style arches. Most of the courtyard is taken up by a very blue swimming pool surrounded by terra cotta tiling.

    e.g. This house has many windows. All look out on the pool.

  • A photo of a stall at a spice market. Multicolored herbs and spices are mounded into baskets and bins on the table, a wall contains jars of multicolored beans and spices, and more herbs are hanging from the roof of the stall.

    e.g. Everything is bright and colorful!

  • Various dogs are lined up in front of a hot pink wall. The dogs are of all different breeds (some mutts) but all of them are wearing collars and leashes.

    e.g. There are many cute dogs. Some are big and others are small.

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