Examines the rule that indefinite pronouns (everyone, anybody, each, someone, nobody) take singular verbs and singular pronouns for agreement. Explores its past, proposes a revision of the rule, and suggests modifications in its application based on analysis of its actual use in English. (SR)

An examination of the history of the practical grammar, of which the college handbook is the modern reflex, reveals why the grammar handbook is so stubbornly resistant to changes in linguistic theory, usage, or ideology. First, codifying English grammar and producing texts for teaching English grammar to school children during the eighteenth…