While proofreading the other day, I came across something interesting and decided it would make a good blog post. I can’t share the actual sentence due to privacy issues, but I’ll modify it to fit the basic structure. It went something like this.
Each cow, chicken, and pig is kept in the barn.
When I saw this, something about it didn’t sit right with me. I looked it up and found the following rule.
In any sentence beginning with “each,” the subject is singular and has a singular verb.
That makes sense when thinking about other examples.
Each cow is kept in the barn.
Each of the cows is kept in the barn.
Each of them is kept in the barn.
Each is kept in the barn.
But in that first example, it sounds like we’re talking about more than one animal (plural). The rule actually still applies because we’re talking about “each one” of these animals.
Each cow, chicken, and pig is kept in the barn.
A good rule of thumb to follow is to stick “one” after “each” when you’re in doubt.
But of course, that doesn’t always work. Here are some examples of “each” being used in a sentence with a plural subject.
The cows each need to be milked.
They each need to be milked.
In these sentences, the subject has changed to “cows” and “they” respectively. That means, even though you see “each,” you have to pluralize the verb. These are instances where reading “each” as “each one” doesn’t fit.
That’s all for today. I hope you enjoyed this post and found it informative. Check back soon for another. Thanks for reading!