Everybody like/likes her, do/does they?

[Marika33]

I know that I should use a singular verb with "everybody/everyone", e.g., "Everybody does it" instead of "Everybody do it".
I also know that the pronoun of "everybody/everyone" is "they", not "he" or "she", e.g., "Everyone said he/she they enjoyed themselves".
Putting these two simple facts together, it turns out that if I want to use the tag question, I should say, "Everybody here knows about it, doesn't they?" instead of "Everybody here knows about it, don't they?", right?

 

[jutfrank]

Everybody here knows about it, doesn't they?

That's wrong.

Everybody here knows about it, don't they?

That's right.

The verb (do/does) must agree with the subject (they), which is grammatically plural, not singular.

 

[Marika33]

The verb (do/does) must agree with the subject (they), which is grammatically plural, not singular.

Thanks. It's actually very interesting that even though in the first clause, we use a singular verb (knows), in the second clause, talking about the same people, we have to use a plural verb (do).

• Everybody here knows about it, don't they?

 

[jutfrank]

Yes, I agree it's interesting.