| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. |
A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996.
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1. Grammar: Traditional Rules, Word Order, Agreement, and Case
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| § 25. each |
| each with singular or plural verb. The traditional rule holds that the subject of a sentence beginning with each is grammatically singular, and the verb and following pronouns must be singular. Thus you should say Each of the apartments has (not have) its (not their) own private entrance (not entrances). When each follows a plural subject, however, the verb and subsequent pronouns remain in the plural: The apartments each have their own private entrances (not has its own private entrance). But when each follows the verb with we as its subject, the rule has an exception. You can say either We boys have each our own room or We boys have each his own room, though the latter form may strike readers as stilted. | 1 |
| each and every. The expression each and every is likewise followed by a singular verb and singular pronoun in formal style: Each and every driver knows (not know) what his or her (not their) job is to be. | 2 |
| each with pronouns. For a discussion of which pronouns to use to refer to noun phrases using each, see
he under Gender. | 3 |
| More at
every. | 4 |
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| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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