Someone, Anyone, No One or Everyone?
Someone refers to an unspecified person; anyone can mean any person; no one means nobody; everyone means all the people. These pronouns take singular verbs, and some- and any- depend on the intended meaning.
Created by Denis M., British English teacher.
Your goal: Choose some-, any-, no- and every- by meaning, use singular agreement and add details in the right place.
Try the activities, then check your answers.
Try the activities, then check your answers.
Choose your listening model
Listen to each message. Identify whether it introduces an unspecified person, asks an open question, means none, includes everybody, makes an offer or allows free choice.
The grammar is shared by these British and American models. Listen for has and is after the singular pronoun, and for the later use of they about a person.
British English · Libby
Download British MP3American English · Amanda
Download American MP31. Who or what do you mean?
An indefinite pronoun refers to a person or thing without naming it exactly. “Someone has left a bag” tells us a person left it, but does not identify them.
| Meaning | People | Things |
|---|---|---|
| An unspecified person or thing | someone / somebody | something |
| An open question, a negative, or free choice | anyone / anybody | anything |
| No person or thing | no one / nobody | nothing |
| All the people or things in the relevant group | everyone / everybody | everything |
Someone and somebody have the same basic meaning, as do anyone and anybody. Write no one as two words in this lesson. Every one, two words, has a different use: every one of the tickets.
These words often come without a following noun: Someone is waiting, rather than someone person is waiting. The context supplies the group: Everyone is here usually means all the people expected here.
An unspecified person
Someone has left a bag by the door.
An open question
Has anyone seen my notebook?
2. Choose the message, not just the sentence type
Introduce or ask
“Someone called while you were out.” A person called.
“Did anyone call?” This is an open question.
Say that there were none
“I did not hear anything.”
“I heard nothing.”
Both report the absence of any sound.
In standard English, choose one negative structure for that meaning: not + anything or nothing. Do not combine them as I did not hear nothing when you mean that you heard no sound.
Some- can appear in questions. “Would you like something to drink?” is a normal offer. “Can someone help me with this box?” asks for a helper and anticipates that one may be available.
Any- can appear in positive sentences. “Anyone can join” means there is no restriction on who may join. It does not mean that nobody can join.
Meaning contrast: “Everyone can join” includes all members of the relevant group. “Anyone can join” emphasises an unrestricted choice of person. In some invitations both are natural, so a quiz needs enough context to test the intended difference.
Nothing or not anything
I did not hear anything, so I heard nothing.
A friendly offer
Would you like something to drink?
An open invitation
Anyone can join, and there is something interesting for everyone.
3. Keep the sentence shape clear
In this some-/any-/no-/every- family, use a singular verb: Someone has a question. Everyone is ready. Nothing works.
When referring back to a person, they/them/their is natural: Someone has left their bag. They may come back for it. The earlier verb stays singular: someone has, then they have.
| Pattern | Example | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| pronoun + adjective | something interesting | an interesting thing |
| pronoun + else | someone else | another person |
| pronoun + to-infinitive | nothing to do | no activity available to do |
Everyone is does not mean the group contains only one person. The pronoun refers to the whole group but takes singular agreement.
B2 extension · Not everyone is not the same as no one
“Not everyone agreed” means at least one person did not agree. It often suggests mixed opinions, but does not specify how many agreed. “No one agreed” says there were zero people who agreed. Avoid the unclear “Everyone did not agree” if your listener needs an exact meaning.
Singular agreement
Everyone is ready, and they have their tickets.
Not everyone leaves the number who agreed open
We do not know from this sentence how many agreed.
This sentence supplies an exact count of those who agreed.
Repair and explain
Try each repair aloud or in writing before revealing the answer.
Repair the agreement: “Everybody are ready.”
Check the repair
Everybody is ready.
This pronoun takes singular agreement, even though it refers to several people.
In standard English, express the intended meaning “I heard no sound”: “I did not hear nothing.”
Check the repair
I did not hear anything. / I heard nothing.
Choose not + anything or nothing for this meaning. The lesson practises standard usage; other varieties may use negative concord.
Repair the word order: “I need useful something to read.”
Check the repair
I need something useful to read.
The adjective goes after something. The to-infinitive then explains its purpose.
Mastery quiz
Open the ten-question mastery quiz
Choose one answer for each question, then check your answers. Read the explanations and retry any you missed. Opening and closing this panel keeps your answers on this page.
Answer key and explanations
- Someone Someone introduces an unspecified person.
- Has anyone seen my keys? Anyone fits an open question when you do not know who, if anybody, has seen them.
- anything Not + anything means that no thing was bought.
- No one came. No one already carries the negative meaning.
- Everyone is ready. Everyone takes a singular verb.
- It is a normal offer. Some- is natural in offers and requests of this kind.
- an unrestricted choice of person The speaker makes eligibility unrestricted.
- something interesting Put an adjective after something: something interesting.
- their Their can refer back to an unknown person and comes before bag.
- At least one person did not agree. This is what not everyone guarantees. It does not give the number who agreed.
Put it into practice
Make a four-sentence announcement for a free activity. Include an unrestricted invitation, an offer, a statement about readiness and one useful detail after a pronoun.
Self-check: Do the meanings fit the situation? Check singular agreement and adjective position. Give your announcement again after one improvement.
Compare with one possible response
Anyone can join our drawing group. Would you like something to drink before we start? Everyone is ready, and they have their materials. We have something simple to draw first.
Next time: return to one point you missed and make a fresh example before replaying a model.