Everyone is a singular pronoun

If children can be taught to use proper English, that will result in better chances of raising our standard of English.




Please encourage the use of proper words and sentences in our daily conversation.

The above is a call in a letter published in the Opinion Column of a popular national English daily.

MY wife is expecting twins and everyone in the family are so happy. This is the first sentence of another letter in the same column on the same day.

Everyone is a pronoun which is singular in form and, therefore, has to be accompanied by a singular verb 'is' instead of 'are'.

However, if the plural verb 'are' is to be used, the sentence can be recast as "My wife is expecting twins and all in the family are so happy."

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.
-- Aristotle