It is correct to use the word "they" here?

Question

The sentence I've constructed is

"My boss doesn't need to tell everyone what they has to do".

It is correct to use the pronoun "they" here?

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 10 '16 at 19:26

1

Your use of "they" to reflect "everyone" is correct, however your verb should also reflect this

My boss doesn't need to tell everyone what they have to do

answered Jul 10 '16 at 19:26

Peter

So in this case 'they' isn't a singular pronoun? I though it could be because i think 'everyone' is singular. Thanks! – Iam Toad Jul 10 '16 at 19:30
2

@Iam Toad: As Baby Bear said (in some versions), Somebody's been sleeping in my bed – and they're still there! Even though semantically, *they* is singular, *syntactically* we still use the plural verb form (*are, not is*). – FumbleFingers Jul 10 '16 at 20:30
1

(Also note that *everyone* is always syntactically singular.) – FumbleFingers Jul 10 '16 at 20:33

1 Answers1