indefinite pronoun + THEY | THEM – English Grammar Profiler
Point 78 in the category of PRONOUNS / generic use is defined as:
GENDER NEUTRAL: ‘they/them’ to refer back to indefinite pronouns when we do not know the number or gender.
This is quite a hard pattern to match because the pronouns might not be used to refer back.
A search for someone|anyone * * * * they|them in the iWeb corpus:
1 ANYONE WITH INFORMATION TO CONTACT THEM 139 2 ANYONE ELSE , EVEN IF THEY 126 3 SOMEONE WHO ACTUALLY KNOWS WHAT THEY 88
4 SOMEONE TO TAKE CARE OF THEM 82
5 SOMEONE TO DO IT FOR THEM 77 6 SOMEONE WHO REALLY KNOWS WHAT THEY 77 7 ANYONE HAD THIS HAPPEN TO THEM 64
8 ANYONE HAVE ANY EXPERIENCE WITH THEM 55
9 ANYONE CAN DO IT IF THEY 53 10 ANYONE WITH INFORMATION TO CALL THEM 51 11 ANYONE WHO WANTS TO USE THEM 49 12 SOMEONE HOW MUCH YOU LOVE THEM 45
13 ANYONE HAD ANY EXPERIENCE WITH THEM 44
14 SOMEONE WHO KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT THEY 41 15 ANYONE , AS LONG AS THEY 36 16 ANYONE , NO MATTER WHERE THEY 36
17 ANYONE , REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THEY 28
18 SOMEONE ELSE , EVEN IF THEY 28 19 SOMEONE ELSE DO IT FOR THEM 28 20 SOMEONE TO DO SOMETHING THAT THEY 28 21 ANYONE WHO TELLS YOU THAT THEY 26
22 ANYONE WHO KNOWS ME AND THEY 25
SOMEONE YOU’RE THINKING OF THEM
24 ANYONE HAS ANY EXPERIENCE WITH THEM 24 25 ANYONE MONEY UPFRONT THAT CLAIMS THEY 24 26 SOMEONE TO TALK TO . THEY 24 27 ANYONE HAVE THIS HAPPEN TO THEM 23 28 SOMEONE DOES N’T KNOW WHAT THEY 23 29 ANYONE WHO WANTS TO SEE THEM 22 30 ANYONE , WHETHER OR NOT THEY 21 31 ANYONE IN THE CAST , THEY 21 32 SOMEONE IS WHO THEY SAY THEY 21 33 ANYONE KNOW HOW TO GET THEM 19 34 ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEA WHY THEY 18 35 ANYONE , NO MATTER WHO THEY 17 36 ANYONE WHO WISHES TO USE THEM 17 37 SOMEONE LET ME KNOW IF THEY 17
38 SOMEONE YOU ARE THINKING OF THEM 17
39 ANYONE , REGARDLESS OF WHERE THEY 16 40 ANYONE CAN DO ANYTHING IF THEY 16 41 ANYONE WHO WILL LISTEN THAT THEY 16 42 SOMEONE IS OUT TO GET THEM 16 43 SOMEONE JUST BY LOOKING AT THEM 16 44 SOMEONE WHO ACTUALLY KNEW WHAT THEY 16 45 ANYONE IS INTERESTED IN SEEING THEM 14 46 ANYONE KNOW HOW TO MAKE THEM 14
47 ANYONE TO TAKE CARE OF THEM 14
48 SOMEONE ELSE WHO KNOWS WHAT THEY 14 49 SOMEONE IS LOOKING OUT FOR THEM 14
50 SOMEONE MENTIONED TO ME THAT THEY 14
B1 Vocab: experience (3) (these don’t seem reflexive) mentioned (1) take care of (2)(don’t seem reflexive) thinking of (2)
whether (2)