Indefinite Adjectives

Indefinite adjectives come before a noun and give a general meaning instead of a specific one. They refer to nonspecific people, things, or amounts. They help the speaker talk about something without naming an exact person, item, or number.

English uses several indefinite adjectives to show different kinds of nonspecific meaning. Some refer to quantity, some refer to distribution, and some refer to absence. These words are used only when they modify a noun in the noun phrase.

Some indefinite adjectives are used with countable nouns, some with uncountable nouns, and some with both. Countable nouns have singular and plural forms. Uncountable nouns are usually not counted as separate items.

Indefinite adjectives must match the noun pattern that follows them. Some are used only with singular nouns, some with plural nouns, and some with either singular or plural meaning depending on the noun. This agreement is part of correct noun phrase structure.

Indefinite adjectives usually appear before the noun they modify. They can come before other describing adjectives in the noun phrase. They form part of the determiner area at the beginning of the noun phrase.

An indefinite adjective modifies a noun, but an indefinite pronoun replaces a noun. The same word can sometimes do both jobs. The function depends on whether a noun follows the word.

Indefinite adjectives do not ask questions. Interrogative adjectives such as what, which, and whose introduce a question and modify a noun. The difference is in meaning and purpose, not only in position.

You can now identify indefinite adjectives and use them to talk about nonspecific people, things, and quantities. You can choose common forms such as some, any, no, each, every, all, many, few, and several. You can also distinguish them from indefinite pronouns and interrogative adjectives, and you can place them correctly in a noun phrase.