Miss Manners Knows Agreement as Well as Manners

Judith Martin's Miss Manners column, which appears in newspapers across the country, offers excellent advice on etiquette with a gentle twist of sarcasm from time to time. Her grammar is as impeccable as her manners. You can find her online at http://www.missmanners.com/.



In an answer to a "Gentle Reader" in today's column, Miss Manners created an interesting sentence while explaining how a high school girl can politely refuse an invitation to a school dance. Here is the sentence:



But everyone, even vulnerable young gentlemen in high school, has to learn to deal with whatever hurt is felt if an invitation is declined or a romantic impulse unrequited.



Miss Manners knows that the word EVERYONE is singular, and so, in spite of the inserted phrase (even vulnerable young gentlemen (PLURAL) in high school), she chose the singular verb HAS, which is absolutely correct.



I might gently suggest to Miss Manners that vulnerable readers, who have a tendency to confuse singular and plural agreement situations, would understand this sentence more quickly if she changed the inserted phrase to singular, too. I am NOT suggesting that the sentence is incorrect--just that it might be made clearer for readers with less grammar experience. Here is how I would word it for those readers:



But everyone, even a vulnerable young gentleman in high school, has to learn to deal with whatever hurt is felt if an invitation is declined or a romantic impulse unrequited.



Have a great week, everyone!