Each of - singular or plural

Question

Hey,

I know the rules how to use the expression "each" correctly.

However, I cannot find rules about the correct usage of "each of". The ones I found are contradictory.

Each of + plural noun + singular verb?

OR

Each of + plural noun + plural verb?

I'm glad for any help. Thanks a lot in advance!

sananoor · Answer

okay here is the rule
1) if "each of" comes before a noun then it takes singular verb
eg. each of these shirts is black

2) if "each" comes after noun or main subject it takes plural verb
eg. they each are great

09173140521 · Answer

could you please tell me about this construction.
 1= each of girls or boys (is \ are) in the park.? 
some grammar rules believe that we must pay attention to closest noun next to the verb but in this case we have (each) for singular !
what we should do now ? choose "is or are" ?

LauraOrion · Answer

Hey 09173140521 - You can think of the rule surrounding "each" sort of like the distributive property in math. If It's before the noun, like the example you gave, you're generally going to "distribute" the action (being at the park) to every girl is who is at the park. It's sort of like saying: "Rhea is at the park, Jenny is at the park, and Kathy is at the park" without having to list each out like that. My favorite example that makes this clear is "each of the girls brings her shoes to practice." Each girl has to bring her shoes individually, since it doesn't make sense that they lug and entire carton of shoes for everyone to share - each girl brings her own pair of shoes.

Also, with GMATclub threads like this one, it is often helpful to start a new thread for old topics like this one rather than continuing old ones since it's not incredibly likely that the users who started this thread are still on GMAT club over two years later!

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Each of - singular or plural

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