Indefinite-Pronoun Subjects (everyone/none/each)

Some words play a quiet trick on you. Take everyone. It clearly means a whole crowd of people — the entire class, the whole school — so your instinct is to treat it as plural and write everyone are. And yet the correct form is everyone is. This is one of the most common slips in English, and it catches out plenty of adults too, so if it's tripped you up, you're in good company. Words like everyone, someone, each and nobody are called indefinite pronouns because they point at people or things without naming exactly which ones. The important thing to know is that most of them, however many people they seem to gather up, count grammatically as one — and so they take a singular verb.

The singular ones

Here are the everyday indefinite pronouns that behave as singular. Notice how many of them quietly contain the words one, body or thing — that's your built-in clue that they're singular:

Everyone, everybody, everything, someone, somebody, anyone, anybody, no one, nobody, each, either, neither → singular verb.

Everyone is here. · Each of the players has a number. · Nobody knows the answer.

Even though everyone clearly means "all the people", English treats it as a single unit — a bit like the word crowd, which is one word for many people but still takes is. So it's everyone is ready, never everyone are ready. Say the little test in your head: everyone → it → is. If you can swap in it, you want a singular verb.

• ✓ Somebody has left the tap running.
• ✓ Neither answer is correct.
• ✗ Everybody are invited to the disco. → ✓ Everybody is invited.

The trap: words in between

Here's where most mistakes actually happen. An indefinite pronoun is often followed by a phrase like of the boys or of the students, and that plural noun sitting right before the verb tries to drag the verb into the plural with it. Don't let it. The verb matches the pronoun, not the noun after of:

✗ Each of the boys were late. → ✓ Each of the boys was late. (each → singular) ✗ Everyone in the classes are ready. → ✓ Everyone in the classes is ready.

The cure is simple: cover up the of… phrase with your finger. Once of the boys disappears, you're left with Each … was late, and the right verb is obvious. The plural noun was only ever a distraction — grammar calls this being "attracted" to the nearest noun, and it's worth training your eye to ignore it.

"None" — usually singular

None looks like it should be plural, and in relaxed speech people often make it so. But in careful writing it's treated as singular, because it's really a shortened form of not one:

None of it is left. · None of the team was available.

You will sometimes see none with a plural verb when the writer is clearly thinking of several separate things (none of the players were fit), and that isn't a crime — but if you want the safe, exam-friendly choice, keep none singular.

The "any" and "some" family can shift

To be completely honest with you, a few of these words bend depending on what they're pointing at. Some, any, all, none and most can go singular or plural according to the noun they're measuring: some of the cake is gone (one lump) but some of the biscuits are gone (countable things). The strict -one, -body and -thing words never do this — they're always singular — but this smaller group follows the meaning. Don't let that unsettle the main rule; just know the two behave differently.

But their pronoun can be "they"

Here's a friendly twist that often confuses people, so let's clear it up. Even though these words take a singular verb, we usually use they or their to refer back to them:

Everyone brought their own lunch. (singular verb "brought", but "their" is fine) Somebody has left their coat behind.

This isn't a contradiction, and it isn't sloppy — it's ordinary, correct English, and it's neater than the clunky his or her. So everyone takes a singular verb but a "they" pronoun, and both are right at once. Writers have used this "singular they" for hundreds of years, all the way back to Shakespeare, so you're on very solid ground. The way to hold the two ideas together is to remember that the verb is decided by grammar — the word counts as one, so is, has, knows — while the pronoun is decided by good sense, because you don't know whether the "everyone" is a boy or a girl, so they covers everybody neatly. Keep those two jobs separate in your head and you'll never tie yourself in knots over it.

Why it matters

Agreement with these words is one of the most heavily tested corners of grammar, precisely because it's counter-intuitive — the words feel plural but behave as singular. That makes each of the boys was a small, reliable way to show a marker that you know the machinery, not just the vibe, of a sentence. It also keeps your meaning tidy: a reader shouldn't have to stumble over a mismatched verb to work out what you mean. And because the rule is so predictable, it's one of the cheapest fixes going — learn the -one/-body/-thing words are singular, learn to ignore the of… phrase, and you've quietly upgraded a whole category of your writing.

Quick check

Choose the verb:

1. Everyone ___ (is/are) welcome.

2. Each of the girls ___ (has/have) a partner.

3. Neither of the answers ___ (was/were) right.

4. Somebody ___ (need/needs) to lock the door.

5. None of the milk ___ (is/are) left.

6. Nobody in the other classes ___ (know/knows) yet.

Where next

• Subject–Verb Agreement — the core rule.
• Singular They — why their works after everyone.
• Compound Subjects — A and B verbs.