Growing up, we heard people say things like, “She don’t know,” “They was there,” and “Everybody have their own opinion.”
Because we heard them so often, they started sounding normal.
But they are not grammatically correct.
This is where concord comes in.
Concord simply means that the subject and the verb in a sentence must agree.
So we say, “She doesn’t know,” not “She don’t know.”
We say, “They were there,” not “They was there.”
And we say, “Everybody has their own opinion,” not “Everybody have their own opinion.”
Now, here is the interesting part.
“Everybody” sounds like it is referring to many people, but grammatically, it is treated as singular.
That is why we say, “Everybody has,” not “Everybody have.”
The same applies to words like “everyone,” “somebody,” “nobody,” and “each.”
“Everyone has a story.”
“Nobody knows the answer.”
“Each student has a book.”
These may look like small mistakes, but they are some of the English grammar mistakes Nigerians make in everyday conversations.
And the funny part is that many of us did not learn them from a grammar book.
We simply heard them growing up and assumed they were correct. 😂
Now you know better.
What other English grammar mistake do you hear people make often
Drop it in the comments. Let us learn together.
