Why do we always say" Everybody is happy" & not "Everybody are happy"?

Do you ever wonder why a hamburger is called a hamburger if there is not ham in it? Or how could the letters "ough" be pronounced nine different ways in English?! (rough, dough, thoughtful, through, ploughman, slough, coughed, hiccoughed, Scarborough)


Let's look at the words everybody, somebody, anybody and nobody.

In the sentence, “The apple is on the table," we use the singular verb "is" because there is only one apple. 

In the sentence, “The apples are on the table" you will notice we use the verb "are" because there is more than one apple. Easy, right? 

But with words like, everybody, somebody, anybody and nobody, we never use the plural verb "are" even though those words usually means more than one person. 

These words always act as singular not plural. 

That's just a rule you must remember. 

So, you would always say, "everybody is happy" or "somebody is late." Never say, "everybody are happy" or "somebody are late"

Happy Learning!