Ron's ESL Blogs

Hi there,

So should you say “every student” or “every students”?

Tricky one, isn’t it?

Well, the rule is the following:

“Every” is always followed by a singular verb.

That’s because we refer to every single item, and NOT to all of them combined.

So the correct phrase is “every student.”

Some more examples:
- Every students in the class must do the exam.
- Every student have has a teacher.

Here are some incorrect examples:
- Every words are important.
- Every moments are new.
- Every parent are present in the meeting.

And these are the same sentences, corrected:
- Every word is important.
- Every moment is new.
- Every parent is present in the meeting.

See also:
Subject-Verb Agreement

In a previous post, we went over dynamic verbs vs. stative verbs.

Here is a quick reminder:

Dynamic = moving or changing.

Dynamic verbs are verbs that describe an action, not a state.

For example:
Take, break, eat, jump, work, find, buy, dance, fish.

Stative = having a state, or existing.

Stative verbs are verbs that describe a state, not an action.

For example:
Have, love, agree, be, want, hate, know, own, cost, sound, prefer, seem, hear.

Note that stative verbs usually describe:
– Relationships between things or people (for example, “have”)
- Emotions or states of mind (for example, “love” and “agree”)
- Appearance and senses (for example, “seem” and “hear”)
- Measurements (for example, “weigh”)

Using stative verbs

Stative verbs are not usually used in the progressive tenses.

Correct: I love you.
Incorrect: I’m loving you.

Correct: Do you agree?
Incorrect: Are you agreeing?

Correct: He doesn’t deserve to win.
Incorrect: He isn’t deserving to win.

Correct: She hated the winter.
Incorrect: She was hating the winter.

Correct: Did you hear that noise?
Incorrect: Were you hearing that noise?

Correct: The trip didn’t include a visit to the beach.
Incorrect: The trip wasn’t including a visit to the beach.

Correct: They will remember us.
Incorrect: They will be remembering us.

Correct: Will it surprise you?
Incorrect: Will it be surprising you?

Correct: This will probably weigh a lot.
Incorrect: This will probably be weighing a lot.

As you must know, words usually have more than a single meaning.
Likewise, some verbs have both stative and dynamic meanings.

For example, the verb “have” is such a verb.

It has many different meanings (you can learn about them in the English Helping Verbs Course).
One of these meanings is “to own.”
This is a stative meaning, since it describes a state, and not an actual action.

Examples:
“I have two cats.”
“You have a new laptop.”
“We have too many problems.”

Another meaning of the verb “have” is “to drink, eat, or smoke
something.”

Examples:
“They had a drink at the bar.”
“We have lunch every day at noon.”
“I will have a cigarette or two.”

I think you can agree with me that this meaning is fully dynamic.
Drinking, eating and smoking are definitely actions and not states.

So in such a case, “have” can be used in the progressive tenses,
too.

Correct: We never have breakfast. (dynamic meaning)
Correct: We are having lunch right now. (dynamic meaning)
Correct: We have a house. (stative meaning)
Incorrect: We are having a house. (stative meaning)

Correct: Jenifer tastes wine for a living. (dynamic meaning)
Correct: Jenifer is tasting some wine right now. (dynamic meaning)
Correct: This wine tastes awful. (stative meaning)
Incorrect: This wine is tasting awful. (stative meaning)

Correct: I always think too much. (dynamic meaning)
Correct: I am thinking about your offer. (dynamic meaning)
Correct: I think you are right. (stative meaning)
Incorrect: I am thinking you are right. (stative meaning)

Here are some verbs with both dynamic and stative meanings:
Be, have, see, smell, taste, think, expect, feel.

Example sentences (stative and then dynamic):
He is (has the identity of) a boy /
He is being (behaving) naughty.

I can see (notice with eyes) you now /
I am seeing (dating) a doctor.

He can’t smell (notice the smell) from birth /
Your puppy is always smelling (trying to get the smell of) me.

This cake tastes (has a taste) great /
We are just tasting (checking the taste of) the cake.

They think (have opinion) this is wrong /
They are thinking (considering) what to do.

I don’t expect (think it will happen) a raise /
We were not expecting (waiting for) any guests.

She feels (has a feeling) depressed /
She is feeling (touching) the texture of the fabric.

For more info and a set of online exercises, visit Dynamic Verbs and Stative Verbs – Examples and Exercises.

Firstly, what do “stative” and “dynamic” mean?

Dynamic = moving or changing.

Stative = having a state, or existing.

Dynamic verbs are verbs that describe an action, not a state.

For example, “They are crossing the street.”

Stative verbs are verbs that describe a state, not an action.

For example, “I love the winter.”

Here are some more examples of dynamic verbs:
Take, break, eat, jump, work, find, buy, dance, fish

Here are some more examples of stative verbs:
Be, want, hate, know, own, sound, prefer, seem
Now, compare the following two passages.

The first passage uses only dynamic verbs, while the second one uses only stative verb:

1) “We are walking in the forest. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and we are having a good time.”

2) “I like the winter. The sun is in the sky, the birds seem to be on the trees, and we want to stay here forever.”

Note that the first passage describes actual actions, while the second passage really describes states.

Next time, we’ll see how you should properly use dynamic and stative verbs.

Click here to learn more on English verbs.

Here is tip #4 on how to increase interest, involvement and results when teaching grammar:

Tip #4

Go step by step.

Yes, there are many different grammar topics.

And yes, your student won’t master English until they understand and can use many of them.

But in this case quality is more important than quantity.

Go over each subject until your student truly gets it. Until They can use it easily when reading, writing, or speaking English.

Even after you fully cover a certain rule, go back to it in future lessons, and reinforce your student’s understanding.

“Use It or lose It!” is the motto, so make sure the student continues to USE what they learn.

Finally, I am now going to share with you one final message on this important topic.

It will help you construct your lessons and make them more fun!

You can use sentence diagramming to teach grammar systematically.

It’s basically a visual way to show how all of the parts of a sentence are related. It can also get kind of addictive because diagramming a sentence is like solving a puzzle.

Click here to find out more about sentence diagramming and how it can help you.

So here is tip #3 on how to increase interest, involvement and results when teaching grammar:

Tip #3

Give plenty of examples. And make sure the student makes plenty of example sentences of their own.

An incorrect way to do this would be to teach a new grammar rule and then give an example or two.

You should get much better results if you show the student many practical examples, and then have them make at least 5-10 examples of their own.

For instance, in this English Verb Tenses section each tense has many illustrated examples, as well as example sentences. Such as:

• Present Perfect Tense
• Present Perfect Example Sentences

Don’t neglect the student’s own examples, as they are key to mastering any subject.