If you're wondering which of the two to use between 'everyone is' vs 'everyone are,' you've come to the right place.
The short answer is that the correct form is 'everyone is.' Read on to find out why.
I can understand why this is a confusing one. After all, the word 'everyone' refers to several people, which in theory is plural, so shouldn't you use the plural form of the verb 'to be,' which is 'are?'
Well, that makes sense… in theory. But the reality is quite different. Let me explain.
First of all, what does 'everyone' mean? It's not the same as 'every one,' which refers to a group of people but on an individual basis. 'Everyone' refers to a group of people as a collective. Check out this article if you want to learn more about that.
'Everyone' is an indefinite pronoun, and it basically means 'every person.' It is a singular pronoun.
Subject-verb agreement is an important concept in English grammar (and probably other languages, too) because it ensures you use the correct verb conjugation based on the subject. Here are some examples of incorrect subject-verb agreement:
The boys was on their way to school.
I don't knows what to wear.
Where did you goes?
Can you see why the subject-verb agreement is so important to get right? If you get just that one bit wrong, the whole sentence will sound off-kilter.
'Everyone,' while referring to multiple people, refers to them as a group. A group is singular; therefore, the verb should also be in the singular tense.
It's exactly the same as saying that 'someone,' 'anyone,' or 'nobody is.'
Top tip! You can also say 'everyone's,' which is a contraction of 'everyone is.' They have the same meaning.
Hopefully, this now makes sense to you, but nonetheless, I'll show you some examples of 'everyone is' in a sentence. You'll see how much more natural it sounds when you say 'everyone is is' vs 'everyone are.'
Everyone is writing down what they want so we can place an order collectively.
Don't you realize everyone is in awe of what you did back there?
Everyone is talking about who will wear what tonight.
How can you say you're not into nonfiction? Everyone's into nonfiction!
Don't worry; we're not judging you. Everyone is afraid of something.
So now you know. I hope you now feel confident with your subject-verb agreement for 'everyone is.' Let's summarize what we've learned:
If you found this article helpful, why not check out some of our other Confusing Word topics over on our blog?
We encourage you to share this article on Twitter and Facebook. Just click those two links - you'll see why.
It's important to share the news to spread the truth. Most people won't.
