Which sentence demonstrates correct pronoun agreement with the indefinite pronoun "everybody" referring to a singular person?

Which sentence demonstrates correct pronoun agreement with the indefinite pronoun "everybody" referring to a singular person?

• A. Everybody forgot their umbrella.
• B. Everybody forgot his umbrella.
• C. Everybody forgot her umbrella.
• D. Everybody forgot its umbrella.

Answer: (B)

Everybody is a singular indefinite pronoun, so the pronoun that refers to it must be singular. When the gender is unknown, traditional grammar often uses the masculine singular pronoun as a default, so referring back to everybody with “his” keeps number in agreement without implying a specific gender. The other choices break that agreement or misidentify what the pronoun can refer to: “its” would treat everybody as an object or nonhuman, which doesn’t fit a person; “her” would imply female gender; and “their” is a plural form, or a modern singular-use pronoun that isn’t the traditional match for a singular indefinite pronoun in this context. So the sentence with “his umbrella” demonstrates the correct pronoun agreement.

Everybody is a singular indefinite pronoun, so the pronoun that refers to it must be singular. When the gender is unknown, traditional grammar often uses the masculine singular pronoun as a default, so referring back to everybody with “his” keeps number in agreement without implying a specific gender. The other choices break that agreement or misidentify what the pronoun can refer to: “its” would treat everybody as an object or nonhuman, which doesn’t fit a person; “her” would imply female gender; and “their” is a plural form, or a modern singular-use pronoun that isn’t the traditional match for a singular indefinite pronoun in this context. So the sentence with “his umbrella” demonstrates the correct pronoun agreement.