Indefinite Pronouns Quiz | Intermediate Level | 20 Questions & Answers with Explanations

"Few" always takes a plural verb, regardless of the "of the" phrase that follows.

Correct sentence: "Few of the employees were willing to work on the holiday."

Memory hook: this reinforces the "few" rule with the "of the" structure — still always plural.

"Many" always takes a plural verb, regardless of the "of the" phrase that follows.

Correct sentence: "Many of the passengers were delayed due to the storm."

Memory hook: this reinforces "many" once more — always plural, with or without the "of the" structure.

"Everyone" always takes a singular verb, regardless of the prepositional phrase "in the office" that follows.

Correct sentence: "Everyone in the office is aware of the new deadline."

Memory hook: a prepositional phrase after "everyone" is just another distractor — the pronoun itself never changes.

"None," following the standard competitive-exam convention (treated as "not one"), takes a singular verb, regardless of the plural noun "students" inside the "of the" phrase.

Correct sentence: "None of the students was able to answer the tricky question."

Memory hook: "students" (plural) sitting right before the verb is the classic bait — "none" itself, treated as "not one," remains singular.

"Every one" (two words, meaning "each individual one") still takes a singular verb, just like "everyone" (one word).

Correct sentence: "Every one of the participants was given a certificate of completion."

Memory hook: whether written as one word ("everyone") or two ("every one"), the meaning and the singular verb rule stay exactly the same.

"Both" always takes a plural verb, regardless of the "of the" phrase that follows.

Correct sentence: "Both of the applicants were shortlisted for the final interview."

Memory hook: "both" stays plural whether it directly precedes a noun ("both applicants") or is followed by "of the" ("both of the applicants").

"Nobody" always takes a singular verb, regardless of the prepositional phrase "in the entire building" that follows.

Correct sentence: "Nobody in the entire building has heard the alarm go off."

Memory hook: this reinforces that any prepositional phrase after an "-one/-body/-thing" pronoun is simply a distractor.

"None," referring here to an uncountable noun ("information"), takes a singular verb — "were accurate" is incorrect; it should be "was accurate."

Correct sentence: "None of the information provided in the report was accurate, according to the fact-checkers."

Memory hook: "none of the [uncountable noun]" still follows the same singular rule as "none of the [plural countable noun]" — the underlying pronoun rule doesn't change based on what follows.

"Every," repeated before each noun and joined by "and," still always takes a singular verb, regardless of the prepositional phrase "in the school" that follows.

Correct sentence: "Every student and every teacher in the school was required to attend the fire drill."

Memory hook: repeating "every" before each noun ("every student and every teacher") reinforces the singular rule even more strongly than a single "every" governing both nouns.

"Both" always takes a plural verb, regardless of the participial phrase "proposed by the researchers" that follows.

Correct sentence: "Both of the theories proposed by the researchers were eventually disproven."

Memory hook: this reinforces "both" with a longer distractor phrase attached — the plural rule remains completely unaffected.

"Everything," ending in "-thing," always takes a singular verb, regardless of the prepositional phrase "in the museum's new exhibit" that follows.

Correct sentence: "Everything in the museum's new exhibit was carefully catalogued before the opening."

Memory hook: reinforcing the "-thing" family once more — always singular, no matter what phrase follows.

"None," following the standard competitive-exam convention, takes a singular verb.

Correct sentence: "None of the workers was satisfied with the new shift timings."

Memory hook: this reinforces "none" as singular once more — a very frequently repeated rule precisely because it's so often tested.

"Every one" (two words) always takes a singular verb — "need" is incorrect; it should be "needs."

Correct sentence: "Every one of the machines in the factory needs regular maintenance to function properly."

Memory hook: this reinforces "every one" (two words) as singular in error-spotting format — don't let "machines," plural, right before the verb, mislead you.

"Several" always takes a plural verb, regardless of the participial phrase "displayed at the gallery" that follows.

Correct sentence: "Several of the paintings displayed at the gallery were sold within the first hour."

Memory hook: this reinforces "several" once more — always plural, with any distractor phrase attached.

"Somebody," ending in "-body," always takes a singular verb, regardless of the prepositional phrase "in this office" that follows.

Correct sentence: "Somebody in this office has been leaving the lights on every night."

Memory hook: reinforcing the "-body" family once more — always singular.

"Both" always takes a plural verb, regardless of the relative clause "who testified in court" that follows — "was consistent" is incorrect; it should be "were consistent."

Correct sentence: "Both of the witnesses who testified in court were consistent in their account of events."

Memory hook: this reinforces "both" as always plural in error-spotting format, even with a relative clause distractor attached.

"Anything," ending in "-thing," always takes a singular verb, regardless of the participial phrase "found among the debris" that follows.

Correct sentence: "Anything found among the debris was carefully preserved for the investigation."

Memory hook: this reinforces the "-thing" family one final time before the quiz moves to more complex combinations.

"Everyone" always takes a singular verb, regardless of the relative clause "who attended the seminar" that follows.

Correct sentence: "Everyone who attended the seminar was given a copy of the presentation slides."

Memory hook: as a final reinforcement across this level — no matter what kind of distractor phrase (prepositional, participial, or relative clause) follows an indefinite pronoun, the pronoun's own fixed rule always governs the verb.

"None," referring here to an uncountable noun ("advice"), takes a singular verb, following the standard convention.

Correct sentence: "None of the advice given by the consultants was particularly useful in the end."

Memory hook: this combines "none" with an uncountable noun ("advice") — both independently confirm the same singular verb, reinforcing each other.

"Few" always takes a plural verb, regardless of the participial phrase "made in the report" that follows.

Correct sentence: "Few of the recommendations made in the report were ever actually implemented."

Memory hook: this reinforces "few" one final time at this level — always plural, regardless of any distractor phrase.