Every: singular or plural

[eshh]

Hi,

I saw from Manhattan SC book (page 164) that "every" is always singular, e.g. "every dog and cat has paws", but what about this sentence "every two children has/ have one bag"? Here, should we use "has" or "have"?

Thanks.

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

Well done for challenging yourself to think up examples. However, be careful not to spend too long doing this, as it can be really confusing (and a distraction from more profitable study).

I have never heard any similar phrase to 'every two children'. If I wanted to say something similar, I might use 'every pair of children' or 'every group of two children'. The rule stated in in the SC guide is really pointing out that we don't use 'every' with a plural noun. We definitely can't say 'every animals' or 'every books'. Therefore, if forced to chose, I'd go with 'every two children has a bag'.

Finally, we're now off the kind of topics that GMAT tests and are, delightfully perhaps, musing over the grammar of English.

[eshh]

Thanks a lot!

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

You're welcome.