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his/her or their

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by quocbao » Wed Mar 11, 2009 7:25 am
Anyone is singular, so we will use his / her. I think his is more common than her.
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by tritrantran » Wed Mar 11, 2009 7:32 am
That's what I thought too. But according to dictionary.com, that's not always the case.

their:

2. (used after an indefinite singular antecedent in place of the definite masculine form his or the definite feminine form her): Someone left their book on the table. Did everyone bring their lunch?


Does this mean either one is correct?
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by Nailya » Wed Mar 11, 2009 8:28 pm
In GMAT this is wrong. Someone, anyone, everyone is singular, thus the pronoun should also be singular.

Did everyone bring his lunch?
Someone left her book on the table.
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by tritrantran » Thu Mar 12, 2009 7:21 am
Nailya wrote:In GMAT this is wrong. Someone, anyone, everyone is singular, thus the pronoun should also be singular.

Did everyone bring his lunch?
Someone left her book on the table.
So is the GMAT right in making this wrong? I guess there could be an argument since both could be technically right.
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by Nailya » Fri Mar 13, 2009 11:35 am
I think it's ok in conversational speech, as for the GMAT we better play the game by its rules:-)
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by goelmohit2002 » Fri Mar 13, 2009 11:45 am
Over here IMO SANAM rules as mentioned in Manhattan applies....

SANAM = Some, Any, none, All, Most...

All the above can be singular or plural in GMAT depending on the context. It depends on the object after of....Both the below IMO are correct:

a) Some of the apples "were" wrong.
b) Some portion of the apple "was" rotten.

Thanks
Mohit
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by Nailya » Fri Mar 13, 2009 11:49 am
Some of, most of, etc are indeed depend on whether the word following the "of" is single or plural, but everyone, someone is always single. Manhattan SC explains it.
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by goelmohit2002 » Fri Mar 13, 2009 11:53 am
yes....thanks for correcting me.
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by Nailya » Fri Mar 13, 2009 11:55 am
No prob :D
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