CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: INDEFINITE ADJECTIVES AND …



CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: INDEFINITE ADJECTIVES AND PRONOUNS.

17.1 SOME AND ANY.

17.1.1 They can be adjectives or pronouns, and are used to indicate a certain, indefinite quantity of something, or a certain, indefinite number of things. They can be used with countable or uncountable nouns.

I have bought some fillet steak for our dinner.

Have you seen any books on folk-music?

I found some in the cupboard; have you got any?

17.1.2 Basically we use "some" in affirmative sentences, and "any" in questions and negative sentences, (although "any" itself is not a negative form.)

She sold me some rotten apples.

Have you got any money on you?

They didn't have any reason to stay.

(They had no reason...)

Note that the "not any" forms cannot be used as the subject of a sentence; in such a case, you must use "no," "none" or "not a..." (See also 17.3.3 and 17.3.4 for further examples of these forms.)

No sound could be heard, and not a soul was to be seen.

We looked desperately for a sign of life somewhere, but none was to be found.

17.1.3 If you expect the answer "Yes" to a question, then you will generally ask it with "some" rather than "any."

Would you like some more chocolate cake, Louise?

Would you like some more whisky, Uncle Patrick?

17.1.4 "Some" can be used to point out different groups of people or things.

Some say he's a good player, but others are more sceptical.

Some of them were still whole, but quite a few had been broken.

17.1.5 "Some," adjective, can refer to a particular but unknown person or thing.

Some idiot has broken my favourite vase!

Surely some shop will have what we're looking for.

17.1.6 With a number, "some" means "approximately" or "about."

It costs some 50 dollars a year to be a member of that club.

There were some two hundred of us altogether.

17.1.7 "Any" in an affirmative sentence gives the idea of "it doesn't matter which, what or who."

Any pupil who has any questions to ask can come and see me at the end of the lesson.

Come any day, I'm always around in the evening.

Any customers who have a complaint must go to the manager.

Take any, they're all the same!

17.1.8 We often use "any" in conditional contexts too.

If any other pupil asks me that question I think I'll scream!

Take one of these pink tablets if you have any more pain.

17.1.9 "Any" will also be used when the idea of a sentence, (but not its form,) is negative.

I seldom find any real humour in the Benny Hill show.

She sat the exam without any real hope of passing it.

There was hardly any suspense in the film.

Scarcely anyone comes to visit me these days.

17.1.10 "Any" often precedes the comparative form of an adjective or adverb in a negative or interrogative context.

I don't think the situation can get any worse.

Will she ever become any more reasonable?

We could work on this all night without getting any further.

17.2 COMPOUNDS OF "SOME," "ANY" AND "NO."

17.2.1 The rules for the choice between the "some," "any" and "no" forms of these compounds are the same as those given in 17.1.2. Here is a list of the forms themselves, followed by a number of basic examples of their use.

somebody / anybody / nobody

someone / anyone / no-one

something / anything / nothing

somewhere / anywhere / nowhere

Someone saw him in town last night.

Has anyone any idea where my keys are?

We haven't got anything to declare.

Nobody came to see me when I was in hospital.

Nothing has been decided yet.

Is there nowhere you would really like to go?

17.2.2 The use of the "any" compounds in an affirmative give the idea of "it doesn't matter who..." and so on, which is the same idea as we saw in 17.1.7, in fact.

Anyone will tell you that he is crazy.

Anybody knows that the square of the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides.

You can say anything you like to him, he's stone-deaf.

I'll go anywhere that's necessary to be with you, Penelope!

17.2.3 Don't forget that the "not any..." forms cannot be used as the subject of a sentence, as we saw in 17.1.2.

Nothing can be done for the time being.

No-one was willing to intervene.

17.2.4 "Some more," "any more" and "no more" are principally used as expressions of quantity in modern English.

He wanted to borrow some more money.

Did they have any more like that one?

There's no more wine in the cellar!

17.2.5 "(Not) any more" is often used as an expression of time, with the same sense as "(not) any longer" or "no longer."

She doesn't talk to me any more, because I laughed at her once.

Now that she's slim, she doesn't have to diet any more.

I refuse to sit here and listen to this any longer.

He no longer goes to visit his parents once a month as he used to.

There is a possible repetition of "any" in sentences like this, which perhaps isn't particularly elegant, but is in fact relatively common.

I haven't got any patience any more.

17.3 ONE, NONE AND NO.

17.3.1 "One" can be the indefinite personal pronoun.

One tends to think of oneself first in such circumstances.

One ought to be aware of what is going on around one.

In fact, this form is rather heavy, and is most often replaced either by using "you," "we" or "they," according to the demands of the context, or by using a passive form; (see 3.2.)

17.3.2 "One" can be a pronoun used to avoid the repetition of a noun after an adjective in the following type of sentence:

Can you tell the difference between a good English accent and a bad one?

I would like a pound of tomatoes please, nice ripe ones if possible.

However we don't need the pronoun "one" in the following cases:

(a) after a superlative:

The English climate must be the worst in the world.

(b) after the adjective "own:"

I'm using my book, haven't you got your own with you?

(c) after an "apostrophe-s"

I prefer my skis to Peter's.

(d) after a number, or an expression of quantity such as "a few," "many" and so on.

He got two presents, but I got five.

In fact, (d) is the only case where the pronoun "one" is quite impossible, but note also that it would become necessary here if a further adjective were introduced.

He got two nice presents, but I got five fantastic ones!

17.3.3 "One" is also the pronoun which will replace a noun introduced by the indefinite article in examples such as the following, (again avoiding unnecessary repetition.)

Do you need a ticket? - No thanks, I've already got one.

Those chocolate truffles look nice; give me one!

17.3.4 "None" is a negative pronoun, meaning "not one" or "not any," and it can represent people or things.

Mary had a piece of cake, but I had none.

A lot of people tried, but none was able to answer the question.

The Ugly Sisters had lots of beautiful jewels, but Cinderella had none.

The whole family promised to come and help us, but none of them were there on the day.

Note that the verb which follows "none" can be singular or plural, according to the logic of the sentence.

17.3.5 "No" is the negative adjective corresponding to the pronoun "none."

There are no letters on the table.

He had no reason to say such a thing to you.

No prizes were distributed this time.

No student will be allowed to leave early.

Once again, the choice between singular and plural forms depends on the logic of the sentence.

17.4 EACH AND EVERY.

17.4.1 "Each" can be an adjective or a pronoun, and considers the elements of a group of people or things separately.

Each student has his own room, and each room has its own key.

I spoke to each of them separately, and they each gave me an entirely different story.

Each of us will have to take our turn.

Each book must be put back in its place after use.

The verb which follows "each" is always singular.

17.4.2 "Every" is an adjective which considers the elements of a group together.

He reads every book he can get his hands on.

She goes to her parents' every Sunday for tea.

Every time she sees that film she ends up in tears.

The verb which follows "every" is always singular.

17.4.3 The compounds of "every" are "everybody" and "everyone," which are synonymous, plus "everything" and "everywhere."

Everybody knows that the Irish are terribly nice people.

Everyone knows that Edinburgh is in Scotland.

Everything is wrong in that answer, Jacqueline!

We looked everywhere, but simply couldn't find it.

The form "every one," written in two words, is used when it is followed by "of ... " or when it refers to things and not people.

Every one of them owes me some money.

Every one of his questions was ridiculous.

Note also the difference between the expression "every day," in two words, and the adjective "everyday:"

We often have to take difficult decisions in our everyday lives.

She eats an apple every day - that's why she's so healthy!

17.4.4 "Every" is also used to express the idea of the frequency of the repetition of an action.

I see her about every two weeks.

(... every second week / ... every other week.)

I get a letter about every four or five months.

(... every fourth or fifth month.)

Every fortnight she sends me a dozen red roses.

17.5 ALL

17.5.1 "All" can be a singular or plural pronoun or adjective..

That's all that they told me.

All of them were waiting for us at the station.

It all depends what sort of a mood she's in.

All the questions have to be answered.

17.5.2 When it is a singular pronoun, "all" is practically always followed by a complement, which is very often a subordinate clause introduced by "that." In cases where there would be no such complement, "all" will generally be replaced by "everything," especially when it is the subject of a sentence.

Everything was done to ensure the patient's comfort.

Everything will be ready in good time.

She wanted to buy everything!

17.5.3 In the plural, "all" is often used together with a personal pronoun, in either of the following ways:

(a) We all agree that the choice was a good one.

(b) All of us agree ...

(a) They have all accepted your invitation.

(b) All of them have accepted ...

In examples (a) "all" takes the same place in the sentences as time adverbs such as "often," "sometimes," "never" and so on: (see 23.2.2 for more details if you're not sure on this point.) Remember too that you don't often see the plural "all" entirely on its own; it will generally be used either with a personal pronoun, as in these last examples, or together with a noun, as in the next paragraph.

17.5.4 "All" can introduce a noun, as you can see in the following examples.

All of the pupils were asked to bring flowers to school.

They went and ate all the sandwiches before we got there!

Do you need all the table to yourself?

She used all of the cloth she had bought.

If it is directly followed by the noun, (without "(of) the" in between,) "all" has a universal sense, which in fact respects the basic logic of the use of articles.

All children can be naughty at times.

(All the children were late this morning.)

All Swiss people yodel when they get up in the morning.

I think they have given up all hope.

17.5.5 A word to clearly distinguish "all" from "whole" would perhaps be useful. "Whole" in fact gives the idea of a complete, single unit or entity. There are some cases where either "all" or "whole" could be used.

The whole cake was eaten in less than half an hour.

(... all the cake ...)

She watches television all the time when I'm out.

(... the whole time ...)

But note the different ideas that are expressed by the two forms in the following sentence.

All Indian tribes suffered from the white invasion, and indeed whole tribes were massacred on occasions.

"Whole" cannot be used with an uncountable noun, so it would be impossible to use it to replace "all" in the following examples.

All the money has already been spent.

All the spaghetti had to be thrown away.

17.6 BOTH, EITHER AND NEITHER.

17.6.1 "Both" is used for people or things, and means "the two," (when there are only two.) It takes the same place in the word order as "all."

They both agreed that I was right.

(Both of them agreed ...)

We are both very pleased to see you today.

(Both of us are ...)

Both girls refused my invitation.

(Both the girls / both of the girls ...)

Both regular barmen were absent.

(Both the regular / both of the regular ...)

"Both" always precedes any article or adjective used to define its noun.

17.6.2 "Both" can also be used alone, as in the following examples, but this is perhaps not so common.

I asked his two brothers to come, and both did.

Both were found guilty.

17.6.3 "Both" can also have an adverbial use, in which case it means "not only ... but also ..."

Both here and in Germany people often drink wine with their meals.

Tension reigned both before and after the war.

She both plays the piano and sings.

17.6.4 "Either" is an adjective or a pronoun, and it means "one or the other" (of two possibilities.)

Either boxer may win the fight.

You may choose either of them, but not both!

I don't think either solution is all that good.

17.6.5 Paradoxically, "either" can also mean "both," but this doesn't often happen. (Only the logic of the context can show you when this is in fact so.)

On either side of the President were his bodyguards.

There was a light at either end of the corridor.

17.6.6 "Neither" is the negative form of "either." Don't forget that it will be followed by a positive (and generally singular) verb form, not a negative one.

Neither answer is correct.

Neither of us knew what she was talking about.

17.7 OTHER, ANOTHER AND ELSE.

17.7.1 "Other" can be an adjective or a pronoun, and you must try to remember that it is invariable when it's an adjective, but not when it's a pronoun.

Give me the other book, please.

He had left his other keys in the car.

One was quite good, but the other was no use at all.

(... but the other one was ...)

Can you ask the others to come in, please?

17.7.2 "Other" is occasionally used as an adverb too, as in the following examples:

You can't get there other than by air or sea.

I rarely see him in town other than with his wife.

17.7.3 "Another" can be an adjective or a pronoun, (and is always written in one word.)

I think you should put another pullover on, it's pretty cold out!

If you've lost yours, take another from the pile.

(... take another one ...)

17.7.4 Note the following use of "another" in front of a plural number, as an alternative to using "more," in fact.

You will have to wait another two weeks.

I have ordered another two hundred copies.

It was another twenty minutes before she came.

17.7.5 "Else" introduces the idea of "other" or "in addition," and can be used in several ways, as the following groups of examples will show. Firstly, we can use it after the indefinite pronouns "somebody," "something" and so on.

Somebody else has already told me that.

Has anybody else got a better idea?

We have nothing else to say on the matter.

I've got something else to tell you, but I can't remember what.

I haven't heard anything else about her since she left.

If there's nothing else to do, let's all go home!

17.7.6 We can also use "else" after "somewhere," "anywhere" and "nowhere."

I'm fed up here, let's go somewhere else.

Is there anywhere else you would prefer to go this summer?

There's nowhere else open at this time of night.

17.7.7 not much else - little else

There's not much else that can be done about it.

Little else was said, and we left quite early that day.

17.7.8 What else? - who else? - how else? - where else? - why else?

I've tried everything, what else can I do?

Who else could we ask to help us?

How else can we try to persuade him?

Where else can you find such beautiful pottery as this?

Why else would he have fled, if he's not guilty?

17.7.9 Note that it is not usual for "else" to be followed by "than." Look at the following examples, and also at 13.4.10.

Everybody else but Cinderella had gone to the ball.

They can do nothing else but wait till we arrive.

We have no choice, other than to accept.

(... no other choice than ...)

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