known, as in the above examples. Distribution Distributive constructions apply a single idea to multiple members of a group. They are typically marked in English by words like each, every and any. The simplest examples are applied to groups of two, and use words like either and or – "Would you like tea or coffee?". Since distributive constructions apply an idea relevant to each individual in the group, rather than to the group as a whole, they are most often conceived of as singular, and a singular pronoun is used: "England expects that every man will do his duty." — Nelson (1805, referring to a fleet crewed by male sailors) "Every dog hath his day." — John Ray, A Collection of English Proverbs (1670), originally from Plutarch, Moralia, c. 95 AD, regarding the death of Euripides. However, many languages, including English, show ambivalence in this regard. Because distribution also requires a group with more than one member, plural forms are sometimes used. Referential and non-referential anaphors The singular they, which uses the same verb form that plurals do, is typically used to refer to an indeterminate antecedent, for example: "The person you mentioned, are they coming?" In some sentences, typically those including words like every or any, the morphologically singular antecedent does not refer to a single entity but is "anaphorically linked" to the associated pronoun to indicate a set of pairwise relationships, as in the sentence: "Everyone returned to their seats." (where each person is associated with one seat) Linguists like Steven Pinker and Rodney Huddleston explain sentences like this (and others) in terms of bound variables, a term borrowed from logic. Pinker prefers the terms quantifier and bound variable to antecedent and pronoun. He suggests that pronouns used as "variables" in this way are more appropriately regarded as homonyms of the equivalent referential pronouns. The following shows different types of anaphoric reference, using various pronouns, including they: Coreferential, with a definite antecedent (the antecedent and the anaphoric pronoun both refer to the same real-world entity): "Your wife phoned but she didn't leave a message." Coreferential with an indefinite antecedent: "One of your girlfriends phoned, but she didn't leave a message." "One of your boyfriends phoned, but he didn't leave a message." "One of your friends phoned, but they didn't leave a message." Reference to a hypothetical, indefinite entity "If you had an unemployed daughter, what would you think