Is the word "student" an indefinite pronoun? I am just confused about this word. Would you like to express your views regarding this?
asked Dec 18 '15 at 10:12
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1No, it is a common noun. – CowperKettle Dec 18 '15 at 10:18
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But indefinite pronouns can also be males or females. The word "student"can be either male or female, so sir why can't we call it the indefinite pronoun? – I don't know who I am. Dec 18 '15 at 10:28
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1Yes ,but this sentence is confusing me. a student can be a person. It can be a male or female. Indefinite pronouns can be also males or females, that is why I asked this question, sir. – I don't know who I am. Dec 18 '15 at 10:33
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1You wrote "I am just confused about this word". Did you mean "student" or "indefinite pronoun" when you wrote "this word"? – Damkerng T. Dec 18 '15 at 11:23
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1To be an indefinite pronoun, it must first be a pronoun. Being able to be used for both males and females is not an indication of pronoun-ness. – Martha Dec 18 '15 at 18:10
From Google:
Indefinite pronouns are words which replace nouns without specifying which noun they replace.
Singular: another, anybody, anyone, anything, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything, little, much, neither, nobody, no one, nothing, one, other, somebody, someone, something.
Plural: both, few, many, others, several.
A noun can be used in an indefinite sense to mean "anyone who is" - e.g:
Give it to a student.
Means give it to anyone who is a student. But student is a noun, not a pronoun. Only the words above are indefinite pronouns.
"student" is a normal noun, you can say "a student" and form the plural "students". You can't do this with any pronoun. And a lot of nouns have only one form for both sexes: teacher, doctor, artist etc.
The list of pronouns is limited. http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/pronouns1.htm
A pronoun replaces a noun: Peter is my brother. You can replace "Peter" by "he". What noun should "student" replace?
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1I've seen people pluralize "someone"/"somebody"; in particular, "several someones" is a reasonable enough thing to say. Most pronouns don't seem to exhibit this, though. – Nathan Tuggy Dec 18 '15 at 19:08
