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Subject:Re: Evolving language or laziness? From:Brad Connatser <concom -at- USIT -dot- NET> Date:Sat, 16 Mar 1996 01:59:03 GMT
>"Everyone was blowing their nose"
This sentence is actually correct because it is elliptical. The meaning of
the sentence is "Everyone (of the people) was blowing their nose(s)." The
antecendent of "their" is not "Everyone," which is singular, but "people,"
which is plural. The subject of the sentence, "Everyone," is singular and
thus gets a singular verb "was." Funny how speakers know that "their" is
ok, but prescriptive grammarians can't understand why.
Brad
--
Brad Connatser
Concurrent Communications
concom -at- usit -dot- net
