Indefinite Pronouns and Antecedents

Neither of the women has told me _____ opinion.

• her

• their

Answer explanation

"neither" is always singular no matter if the word "women" is plural so the pronoun must be singular.

neither: not the one nor the other of two or more people or things.

example: "Neither of us believes it."

Everyone in the gardens planted ______ tomatoes just before the unexpected frost.

• his or her

• their

Answer explanation

The subject indefinite pronoun "Everyone" is always singular even that "gardens" in the prepositional phrase is plural.

Because everyone means every single person as an individual identified inside a group of 2 or more.

None of the women skaters have taken _______ turn on the ice yet.

• her

• their

Answer explanation

None means -not any of the ones that are taken in count-

Since "None" can be used as both singular or plural indefinite pronoun.

You use the prepositional phrase or verbs used to identify wether the context of the sentence is plural or singular - in this case it is plural because "skaters" is a plural noun, so you use a plural verb and a plural pronoun.

Most of the bus drivers had completed _________routes by midnight.

• his or her

• their

Answer explanation

You can see how "drivers" is plural so the pronoun used after "most" is plural, even though you can use the indefinite "most" in both plural or singular.

Some of the tree has been pruned to prevent ______ imminent death.

• its

• their

Answer explanation

Observe how the sentence using "some" can be referred to whatever that has been taken of the -tree- the ones which may be -dry branches, leaves or roots-.

In this case the pronoun used after it has to be in singular form because it is referring to the noun inside the prepositional phrase which is the one that gives the singular context.

"tree" is singular so you use the singular pronoun "its".

Some of the flowers have lost ______ fragrance.

• its

• their

Answer explanation

Look how we used the word "some" as the subject of this sentence again.

It clearly is talking about a various amount of flowers which makes the context of the sentence plural, the verb is plural here which is -have lost- therefore the pronoun that refers to the subject is plural too, in this case -their-.

Several of the men insist that _______ votes were not counted.

• his

• their

Answer explanation

"Several" is clearly a plural indefinite pronoun therefore the pronoun that stand for it has to be plural, in this case "their".