Macmillan Holdings, LLC. Grammar Girl, Grammar Girl's, QDnow, and Quick and Dirty Tips are all trademarks of Macmillan Holdings, LLC. Explore the mysteries of indefinite pronouns. Nancy grammar Can you make everyone plural? Everyone's? http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/indefinite-pronouns.aspx?commentid=20952#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/indefinite-pronouns.aspx?commentid=20952#Comments Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:21:21 GMT Jacob Williams grammar re Nicole: --Begin Quote-- However, I struggle with the idea that I never would say "Everyone are going tonight." If I can't say that, how can I say that "everyone" is plural? --End Quote-- I don't think that you need to consider "everyone" to be plural. It is singular and its verb agreement reflects that. Instead, realize that "their" is not plural. While I am not a fan of the use of "their" as a singular pronoun of indefinite gender, I think the battle has been lost. Every professional writing situation may be different, but most corporate and government style guides require it. When "their" is used in this fashion, it is actually singular, replacing the previously used "he", which was the singular indefinite gender pronoun. There is nothing ungrammatical about it. This rule has changed many times in the history of English. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/indefinite-pronouns.aspx?commentid=19299#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/indefinite-pronouns.aspx?commentid=19299#Comments Wed, 16 Sep 2009 23:34:24 GMT Lance grammar Everyone and everybody are always singular. Those who cringe at using his for the indefinite gender need to get over it. In France, half the words are masculine, no matter how they are used, so he, him, and his can be indefinite in English when it suits the purpose. Surely it is better than the clumsy his/her. In Australia, New Zealand, and Canada some forms of American English have taken the place of British standards, but team, committee, and virtually all other collective nouns are always plural in British English, no matter how they "act". Even when a city or country is used as a synecdoche for a team, it is plural in British English. "Manchester are ahead two to naught." The British pronominal for team is "they", not it. In American English, you might stumble a bit with "The team is taking their seats on the airplane." http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/indefinite-pronouns.aspx?commentid=17674#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/indefinite-pronouns.aspx?commentid=17674#Comments Sun, 05 Jul 2009 08:15:26 GMT Nicole grammar Diana, God bless you for using the metric system. :) However, I struggle with the idea that I never would say "Everyone are going tonight." If I can't say that, how can I say that "everyone" is plural? http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/indefinite-pronouns.aspx?commentid=16933#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/indefinite-pronouns.aspx?commentid=16933#Comments Mon, 11 May 2009 23:27:53 GMT ashleigh grammar i have read the story and i think that you could use the words such as everyone everybody depending on your sentence for ex.everyone in the class wants to work on vocabulary. such as use everybody. ex.everybody in ms.allen was able to go on the trip. i feel she explained it pretty well to me i loved it. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/indefinite-pronouns.aspx?commentid=15878#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/indefinite-pronouns.aspx?commentid=15878#Comments Tue, 24 Feb 2009 21:13:53 GMT giti k grammar I think it is better to take one form.What we have been taught is that we use singular verb and pronoun with everyone. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/indefinite-pronouns.aspx?commentid=14656#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/indefinite-pronouns.aspx?commentid=14656#Comments Sat, 08 Nov 2008 05:27:14 GMT kris grammar love it! http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/indefinite-pronouns.aspx?commentid=13047#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/indefinite-pronouns.aspx?commentid=13047#Comments Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:29:36 GMT ceci grammar Ironically, the Legal Lad two links below yours on the quick and dirty tips webpage had the word "judgment" misspelled. Yikes! Also to the person with the "team is / team are" issue - there are times when "team are" is correct - when the members are acting individually. Love the website! http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/indefinite-pronouns.aspx?commentid=12967#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/indefinite-pronouns.aspx?commentid=12967#Comments Thu, 19 Jun 2008 01:49:20 GMT Bob grammar Thank you this lesson was very informative. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/indefinite-pronouns.aspx?commentid=12961#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/indefinite-pronouns.aspx?commentid=12961#Comments Wed, 18 Jun 2008 15:26:54 GMT Kerry grammar Stick to your guns, Carla. I'm an Australian, born and bred, yet will never use 'the team are ...' or any similar phrase. 'The team is ...' is the way it used to be taught in schools here, for the very reason you state. Get your earplugs out ready for the Beijing Olympics, when our television commentators will swamp us with such declarations as, "China are dominating this table tennis match". "Are it really?", we may well ask. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/indefinite-pronouns.aspx?commentid=12958#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/indefinite-pronouns.aspx?commentid=12958#Comments Wed, 18 Jun 2008 12:42:41 GMT Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:21:21 GMT http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/indefinite-pronouns.aspx feedback@quickanddirtytips.com (Managing Editor) feedback@quickanddirtytips.com (Webmaster) en-us