myprofe
Joined: 29 Jun 2004
Posts: 425
Location: Madrid, Spain - Native Boston, USA
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 Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 2:09 am Post subject: impersonal |
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The sentence is correct. That's the easy part. The hard part is the explanation.
The words someone, somebody, everybody anybody, nobody etc. take the singular form of the verb although, as in the case of everybody, they refer to a group of people.
"Somebody called" clearly refers to one person but "nobody called" can be understood to mean that not one of many people called.
In any case, the only impersonal pronoun that you can use in your sentence is they.
Here are two examples:
#1
New Receptionist: A man called while you were out.
Boss: Did you get his name?
New Receptionist: No, he didn't want to give me his name.
#2
New Receptionist: Someone called while you were out.
Boss: Did you get their name?
New Receptionist: No, they didn't want to give me their name.
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I'm never going to learn if you don't correct my mistakes! |
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