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Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Grammar
Is the sentence"Everyone put their pens down."
At the chapter about the indefinite pronoun, it says:"You always use singular verbs with indefinite pronouns."
In another section of chapter,with the subtitile named' used with personal pronouns" it says:"Although you use singular verbs with indefinite pronouns, if you want to use a pronoun to refer back to an indefinite pronoun, you use the plural pronouns 'they', 'them','their' or 'themselves'. And after this sentence there are some examples, one of them is like this:"Everyone put their pens down."
I'm confused because it said "You always use singular verbs with indefinite pronouns." Doesn't always means forever?And isn't 'Everyone' a indefinite pronoun here?So it should be"Everyone put their pens down." here , isn't it ?
What's wrong here?
In another section of chapter,with the subtitile named' used with personal pronouns" it says:"Although you use singular verbs with indefinite pronouns, if you want to use a pronoun to refer back to an indefinite pronoun, you use the plural pronouns 'they', 'them','their' or 'themselves'. And after this sentence there are some examples, one of them is like this:"Everyone put their pens down."
I'm confused because it said "You always use singular verbs with indefinite pronouns." Doesn't always means forever?And isn't 'Everyone' a indefinite pronoun here?So it should be"Everyone put their pens down." here , isn't it ?
What's wrong here?
Top answer
" Your question is ill-formed. You say the example in the book is Everyone put their pens down. Then you suggest that maybe it's wrong and should be Everyone put their pens down.
- " Your question is ill-formed.
- You say the example in the book is Everyone put their pens down.
- Then you suggest that maybe it's wrong and should be Everyone put their pens down.
- which is the same thing again.
- ________ Note, however, that the sentence is in the past, and the past of put is put , so maybe that's what's troubling you.
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1 Answers
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Anonymousone of them is like this:"Everyone put their pens down."Your question is ill-formed. You say the example in the book is
I'm confused because it said "You always use singular verbs with indefinite pronouns." Doesn't always means forever?And isn't 'Everyone' a indefinite pronoun here?So it should be"Everyone put their pens down."
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