Everyone vs every one: What’s the difference?

Everyone vs. Every One?

The word everyone is a pronoun used to discuss a group of people. The phrase every one is used to identify individual people, places, or things within the same group.

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Understanding the difference between the word everyone and the phrase every one is difficult because when spoken aloud, they both use the same letters and sound nearly identical. Don’t be fooled, though: everyone and every one does not mean the same thing and are very different from one another. Every one is a phrase and represents two words. Every and everyone are individual words.

Everyone vs Every One

Another way to understand the difference between Everyone and every one is to recognize how similar they are to everything and every thing. The biggest difference is that everyone describes a group of people, and everything describes a group of inanimate subjects. Similarly, everyone can be used interchangeably with everybody.

Every-thing to Know

What makes everyone and every one similar is the adjective every. Depending on what you’re trying to communicate, every can represent a group of subjects that may be indefinite or known in size.

For example, if you said, “every domestic cat in your country is outside,” you could be talking about 10 or 100,000 cats. But if you already established how there are only 20 cats in your country, the reader would know you communicated, “there are 20 cats outside in my country.”

Every can be used to describe quantities of people, places, things and can be used in past, present, or future tense. When using the word every one, however, you redirect the attention of your reader from a group of subjects to address a singular subject one by one.

What does everyone mean?

The word everyone is an indefinite pronoun and means, each person, or everybody, and refers to an established quantity of people. Unless contextually specified, everyone is an acceptable substitute for non-gendered indefinite pronouns.

Is everyone singular or plural?

Everyone is singular because the reader already knows you’re talking about a collective group of people taking a singular action. Each person is apart of everyone and everyone as a group is taking collective action within the sentence. The singular pronoun paired with a singular verb is called a subject-verb agreement.

*Note on Subject-Verb Agreement: American English grammar teaches us to use singular nouns with singular verbs. However, it’s not uncommon to see indefinite pronouns used in the singular or plural verb form within British English grammar.

How do you use everyone in a sentence?

  • “Does everyone know where the music venue is?”
  • “Can everyone bring a photo of their pet wearing pajamas?”
  • “I don’t know where everyone is tonight.”
  • Everyone loves to feel loved.”
  • Everyone is attending the concert.”

Synonyms for everyone

  • All
  • Everybody
  • Anybody
  • Everyman
  • People

Antonyms for everyone

  • Nobody
  • None

What does every one mean?

Every one is used in a sentence to point out multiple, individual items within a subject group. Every allows you to convey that you’re identifying all relevant items concerning the one person, place, or thing.

What Does Ignorance Is Bliss Mean

Is every one singular or plural?

The phrase every one is singular because it identifies a single person, place, or thing within a group in relation to an action or how the single noun is described.

How do you use every one in a sentence?

  • “The dog chewed every one of my shoes.”
  • Every one of my students passed their grammar tests with an A+.”
  • “I know every one of you snuck out to the beach yesterday afternoon.”
  • Every one of my brothers cried after the Ducks lost to Auburn.”
  • “He ate every one of my chocolate doughnuts.”

Similar phrases to every one

  • Each one
  • Each person
  • Every person

Test Yourself!

Which is Correct: everyone or every one? Choose the correct form of everyone or every one within the following questions:

(1) Where did __________ go this afternoon?

  1. Where did every one go this afternoon?
  2. Where did everyone go this afternoon?

(2) Sometimes it feels like __________ on social media is having more fun than us.

  1. Sometimes it feels like everyone is having more fun than us.
  2. Sometimes it feels like every one is having more fun than us.

(3) Can you believe that __________ of her car tires is flat today?

  1. Can you believe that every one of her car tires is flat today?
  2. Can you believe that every one of her car tires is flat today?

(4) Each and __________ the stars in the sky have emitted light for millions of years.

  1. Each and every one the stars in the sky have emitted light for millions of years.
  2. Each and everyone the stars in the sky have emitted light for millions of years.

(5) __________  of my Google searches mentions how __________  is obsessed with Kim Kardashian.

  1. Everyone of my Google searches mentions how every one is obsessed with Kim Kardashian.
  2. Every one of my Google searches mentions how everyone is obsessed with Kim Kardashian.

Answers

  1. everyone
  2. Everyone
  3. Every one
  4. Every one
  5. Every one, everyone

Sources

  1. Appropriate Pronoun Usage.” The Purdue Writing Lab, Purdue University, 2019.
  2. Every (adj.).Online Etymology Dictionary, Etymonline.com, 2019.
  3. Everyone.” Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, Inc., 2019.
  4. Everyone.” Merriam-Webster Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, Inc., 2019.
  5. Everyone.” Lexico, Oxford University, 2019.
  6. Everyone, Everybody, Everything, Everywhere.” Cambridge Dictionary, Cambridge University Press, 2019.
  7. Every One or Everyone?Cambridge Dictionary, Cambridge University Press, 2019.
  8. Making Subjects and Verbs Agree.” The Purdue Writing Lab, Purdue University, 2019.
  9. Subject and Verb Agreement.” The Write Place, LEO: Literacy Education Online, St. Cloud State University, 2004.

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