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everyone were or everyone was?
While being a handed a job today would be nice, it would be misery if everyone were told what job they had to do and had to stay with it.
Should it be ...
if everyone were told what job
if everyone was told what job
I'm really not sure.
12 Answers
- 1 decade agoFavorite Answer
Well it might not mean anything to you but I am a teacher... in this particular case you should say... everyone were... Just checked with my hubby who is also a professional and he agrees. Hope that helps!
- 1 decade ago
The every in everyone means <i>all <i>- more than one (plural) so:
everyone were told what job
If it was meant to be singular - everyone would be changed to each one, and so then it would be:
each one was told what job
- 1 decade ago
Goodness gracious. Quite a puzzler you have there.
If we were talking about something factual, it would be "was." — "At four o'clock, everyone was told to go to the conference room."
But when you're talking about something that isn't actually going to happen, that's the subjunctive mood and requires "were." "It would be misery if everyone were told..." (which is to say, they are not being told what to do.)
"The subjunctive mood is employed to express a contition contrary to fact."*
My mnemonic for remembering this—in Fiddler on the Roof, Tevye sings "If I Were a Rich Man," because he's not rich.
Source(s): *Webster's New World English Grammar Handbook - Mrs.Spruill!!Lv 51 decade ago
everyone was( the sublect(noun is ploral so the action(verb) has 2 be single(in other words u are talkin 2 the group as one)
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- Anonymous5 years ago
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pangel gets my vote-i wouldnt want everyone to be me-have a star----smile and enjoy the holidays
- wawawebisLv 61 decade ago
was told what job he had to stay with.....
since we don't have a gender neutral pronoun, but wish we did, we do tend to say "they" but formally, everyone is a singular and so you have to use he or "he or she" to be grammatically correct.
- Anonymous1 decade ago
everyone was
- Anonymous1 decade ago
everyone was