Using list of item followed by the word everything

Question

Suddenly vehicles, buildings and everything vibrates for couple of seconds.

Canadian45 · Accepted Answer

Suddenly, vehicles, buildings and everything else vibrates for a couple of seconds.

Kris Aquino · Answer

Why "vibrates?" Should the verb be in plural form? I'm a bit confused.

Canadian45 · Answer

Kris AquinoWhy "vibrates?" Should the verb be in plural form? I'm a bit confused. no

1) "everything else" immediately precedes "vibrates", and 'everything(else)' takes a singular verb.
2) By the way, 'shakes' is a better word than "vibrates".

Grammarfreak · Answer

canadian45everything else" immediately precedes "vibrates", and 'everything(else)' takes a singular verb

Here is my two cents. I tend to look at it as a compound subject. Without question there are more than one subject in the sentence; buildings, vehicles, and everyone form a compound subject and if you apply the rule as described, then what would you use with this sentence? John, Mary, you and I are / am supposed to attend the meeting tomorrow. Going by the same grammatical logic, then ".....you and I am...." should be the right answer, which is wrong in my opinion.

I agree that the past form of "shake" is the correct choice of word.

Fivejedjon · Answer

The singular form of the verb sounds odd to me.

Canadian45 · Answer

The plural form of the verb sounds odd to me.

Fivejedjon · Answer

canadian45The plural form of the verb sounds odd to me

So, to use a similar example to grammarfreak's, You'd accept "Vehicles, buildings and the swimming pool shakes", would you?

Canadian45 · Answer

So, to use a similar example to grammarfreak's, You'd accept "Vehicles, buildings and the swimming pool shakes", would you? no

Vehicles, buildings and the swmming pool (all) shake. There clearly is a compound subject even though the last noun is singular. [My sister(s) and brother are coming.]

"Suddenly vehicles, buildings and everything vibrates for couple of seconds."
1) Logically, one needs to add 'else' after "everything". The gist of the sentence is that everything vibrates. .But I realize that that won't necessarily convince everyone.
But the bottom line for me is just that "and everything (else) vibrate" doesn't please my ear. And it seems that the person who wrote the sentnce has a similar ear, although (s)he omitted the "else".

I think this is a part of the difference between our two Englishes.

Grammarfreak · Answer

canadian45But the bottom line for me is just that "and everything (else) vibrate" doesn't please my ear. And it seems that the person who wrote the sentnce has a similar ear, although (s)he omitted the "else".

Mind you, the person who wrote the question also used the verb "vibrates". People who use main stream English would never make an earthquake reference with the word "vibrate" in my opinion. Here is how natural English would sound to my ears:
Buildings, vehicles, and everything that were not secured were shaking, moving and bouncing violently for a few seconds.

Fivejedjon · Answer

grammarfreakBuildings, vehicles, and everything that were not secured were shaking, moving and bouncing violently for a few seconds.

I can't agree with you on that one. For me, it has to be: Buildings, vehicles, and everything that was not secured were shaking, moving and bouncing violently for a few seconds.

Using list of item followed by the word everything

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