each

   is not always an easy word, even for the authorities. Here are William and Mary Morris writing in The Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage: "Each of the variants indicated in boldface type count as an entry." Make it counts. As the Morrises doubtless knew but failed to note, when each is the subject of a sentence, the verb should be singular.

   A plural verb is correct when the sentence has another subject and each is a mere adjunct. Again we can cite an error made by an authority, in this case Philip Howard in The State of the Language: "The separate genres of journalism each creates its own jargon, as any specialized subject or activity always does." It should be "each create their own jargon." Genres is the subject of that sentence, so the verb must respond to it.

   Deciding whether to use a singular or plural verb is not as difficult as it may at first seem. In fact, the rule could hardly be more straightforward. When each precedes the noun or pronoun to which it refers, the verb should be singular: "Each of us was . . ." When it follows the noun or pronoun, the verb should be plural: "We each were . . ."

   Each not only influences the number of the verb, it also influences the number of later nouns and pronouns. In simpler terms, if each precedes the verb, subsequent nouns and pronouns should be plural (e.g., "They each are subject to sentences of five years"), but if each follows the verb, the subsequent nouns and pronouns should be singular ("They are each subject to a sentence of five years").