it is easier to see why the subject is singular: “Each one was painted green”
sounds much better than “Each one were painted green.” Answer choice C, then,
is correct.
*Ten bonus points to anyone who can make a mnemonic device for these. My best one so far is ONANASEENEEE.
—Samantha
There are 13 singular subjects like each that you should memorize: each,
every, either, neither, one, no one, everyone, everybody, someone, somebody,
anyone, anybody, and nobody.* Whenever you see one of these words as the
subject of a sentence on the test, pay careful attention to whether the verb is
singular. For example:
Incorrect: Neither of the streets were painted green.
Correct: Neither of the streets was painted green.
Again, it helps to replace the “of the ___” part of the sentence with
the word one: “Neither one was painted green” should sound better to you than
“Neither one were painted green.”
Incorrect: Either this street or that street were painted green.
Correct: Either this street or that street was painted green.
Incorrect: One of the streets were painted green.
Correct: One of the streets was painted green.
COMMANDMENT 2: THY PRONOUNS SHALT ALWAYS AGREE WITH THY NOUNS.
Singular subjects take singular pronouns; plural subjects take plural pronouns.
Remember that list of singular subjects that you just memorized (each, every,
either, neither, one, no one, everyone, everybody, someone, somebody, anyone,
anybody, and nobody)? If you don’t, then shame on you. It was literally eleven
sentences ago. Anyway, each of these words takes a singular pronoun. Whenever
one of the words on the list is the subject, the pronoun that refers to that word
has to be singular. This is a hard rule to “hear” because so many people break
this rule that we’re used to hearing it the wrong way.
Example 1: