everyone looks like they are

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Anduy

#452219 Tue, 11 Dec 07 10:04 PM

Everyone looks like they are enjoying the party.
Everyone look like they are enjoying the party.

Please tell me which sentence is the correct one.
Thank you.

Anduy

Joined on Tue, Nov 6 2007

Junior Member (60)

Grammar Geek

#452222 Tue, 11 Dec 07 10:20 PM

Everyone looks...

(Be aware that there are some people who will insist you say "looks as though" rather than "looks like." I'm not one of them.)

Grammar Geek

Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006

Pennsylvania, USA

Veteran Member (15,619)

Barbara, who answers in American English.

Yoong Liat

#452358 Wed, 12 Dec 07 09:57 AM

Anduy wrote:
Everyone looks like they are enjoying the party.
Everyone look like they are enjoying the party.

Please tell me which sentence is the correct one.
Thank you.

Although 'everyone' means 'all the people', a singular verb has to be used.

Every apple is rotten.

Every one of the apples is rotten.

Every one of my friends is helpful.

Everyone is helpful.

Everybody is helpful.

As long as you see 'every' in a sentence the verb in such constructions has to be singular.

Yoong Liat

Joined on Mon, Sep 4 2006

Singapore

Veteran Member (6,023)

Yoong Liat

Constructions, Singular verbs, Verbs

Philip

#452476 Wed, 12 Dec 07 04:08 PM

Yoong Liat wrote:

Anduy wrote:
Everyone looks like they are enjoying the party.
Everyone look like they are enjoying the party.

Please tell me which sentence is the correct one.
Thank you.

Although 'everyone' means 'all the people', a singular verb has to be used.

Every apple is rotten.

Every one of the apples is rotten.

Every one of my friends is helpful.

Everyone is helpful.

Everybody is helpful.

As long as you see 'every' in a sentence the verb in such constructions has to be singular.

Correct. Assuming you are a teacher, I'm wondering if you have a way of explaining to your students what you have said here and then using a plural pronoun (they) to refer to the singular antecedent. I can't explain it to my own native logic.

Philip

Joined on Thu, Jun 23 2005

USA Pacific Northwest (Seattle)

Veteran Member (6,181)

At reise er at leve! - H. C. Andersen

Constructions, Nouns, Plurals, Pronouns, Singular verbs, Verbs

Yoong Liat

#452498 Wed, 12 Dec 07 05:02 PM

Philip wrote:
Yoong Liat wrote:

Anduy wrote:
Everyone looks like they are enjoying the party.
Everyone look like they are enjoying the party.

Please tell me which sentence is the correct one.
Thank you.

Although 'everyone' means 'all the people', a singular verb has to be used.

Every apple is rotten.

Every one of the apples is rotten.

Every one of my friends is helpful.

Everyone is helpful.

Everybody is helpful.

As long as you see 'every' in a sentence the verb in such constructions has to be singular.

Correct. Assuming you are a teacher, I'm wondering if you have a way of explaining to your students what you have said here and then using a plural pronoun (they) to refer to the singular antecedent. I can't explain it to my own native logic.

Could you give me an example of such a sentence so that I can hope to explain, using my non-native logic?

Yoong Liat

Constructions, Nouns, Plurals, Pronouns, Singular verbs, Verbs

Anonymous

#452728 Thu, 13 Dec 07 11:34 AM

Yoong Liat wrote:

Could you give me an example of such a sentence so that I can hope to explain, using my non-native logic?

He was clearly asking you about this one:

Everyone looks like they are enjoying the party.

Anonymous

Grammar Geek

#452788 Thu, 13 Dec 07 01:55 PM

Can't we just say that because English lacks a non-gender-specific singular third-person personal pronoun (that applies to people - we don't like being called "it"), and because attempts to invents such a word have been unsuccessful, we sometimes use the plural form to avoid implying that the statement applies only to males or only to females. And when we use that plural from, the verb agrees with the plural pronoun. Although non-gender-specific singular third-person personal pronoun is quite a mouthful!

Grammar Geek

Genders, Nouns, Plurals, Pronouns, Verbs

Yoong Liat

#452789 Thu, 13 Dec 07 01:59 PM

Anonymous wrote:
Yoong Liat wrote:

Could you give me an example of such a sentence so that I can hope to explain, using my non-native logic?

He was clearly asking you about this one:

Everyone looks like they are enjoying the party.

Strictly speaking, it should be Everyone looks like he or she is enjoying the party.

Here again the singular verb 'is' used.

However to be avoid mentioning the gender, in modern English, the sentence is rephrased as "Everyone looks like they are enjoying the party.

This is how I would explain the usage to my students.

Yoong Liat

Genders, Singular verbs, Verbs

Grammar Geek

#452790 Thu, 13 Dec 07 02:01 PM

Hi Yoong Liat - Absolutely, that's what the original poster was asking - but I think Philip was asking about the Everyone (singular)... their (plural).

Grammar Geek

Plurals

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