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Everybody put their money?


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Everybody/their #31 (permalink) Wed Mar 11, 2009 19:00 pm   Everybody/their
 

Awkward or not, a plural pronoun with a singular subject is grammatically wrong. The whole sentence should be reconstructed if political correctness is the goal.
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Everybody put their money? #32 (permalink) Sun May 01, 2011 12:41 pm   Everybody put their money?
 

If 'everybody' is a singular third person pronoun why is it followed by 'put' but not 'puts'?
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Everybody put their money? #33 (permalink) Sun May 01, 2011 12:55 pm   Everybody put their money?
 

You are thinking of two separate tenses:

Everybody put is equivalent to he put, she put, etc.
Everybody put money in the pot when they arrived.

Everybody puts is equivalent to he puts, she puts, etc.
Everybody puts money in the pot once a week.
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Everybody put their money? #34 (permalink) Sun May 01, 2011 13:07 pm   Everybody put their money?
 

In your first row of examples you mean 'he and she put', right? The sense of 'everybody' is plural then, isn't it?

In the second, it's practically the same: 'he puts' and 'she puts' is 'they put', hence 'everybody put'. This way it adds up perfectly, I think.

Did I get it right that way?
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Everybody put their money? #35 (permalink) Sun May 01, 2011 13:27 pm   Everybody put their money?
 

Hi Abeille,

Remember that 'put' is the past simple and can be used for all persons singular and plural but 'puts' is the third person singular of the present tense.

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Everybody put their money? #36 (permalink) Sun May 01, 2011 13:38 pm   Everybody put their money?
 

I was a fool! It's just Past Simple. 'In the beginning everybody put...' = 'At that time in the past they put...'
Abeille
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Everybody put their money? #37 (permalink) Sun May 01, 2011 13:45 pm   Everybody put their money?
 

Albeit I have to mention that the article shared by Amy - http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/sgtheirl.html - was much to my liking.
No contradictions at all. I absolutely advocate such usage. It is very natural indeed. Why on earth to argue about this matter?
Everybody can choose their way! Doesn't it sound good English? :)
Abeille
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