Which of these sentences is correct:
1-What he does for a living isn't difficult. Everybody can do that.
2-Everybody could have commited the murder.
2's fine. I'd say 'anybody'in the first.![]()
I thought it was the other way around!
Anybody could have committed the murder. We don't know who did.
Everybody could have committed the murder. We don't know who did.
Anybody can do that. (Come to think of it. This one is definitely correct.)
Everybody can do that. (Is this one wrong?)
Both are correct. Context is missing. If you mean to say that only one person can do it or could have done it, then use 'anybody'.Originally Posted by navi
'everybody' means, all bodies, every person in the group.
'anybody' means, one body, one person in the group.
:D
By 2 I mean to say everybody is a suspect.
By 1 I mean to say that any single person, no matter who they are, can do that.
Let's look at sentence 2:Originally Posted by navi tasan
2a- Everyone (in this room) could have committed the murder. (All of you could have poisoned the victim.)
2b. Anyone (in this room) could have committed the murder. (One of you could have poisoned the victim.
Let's look a sentence 1:
1a- What he does for a living isn't difficult. Everybody(i.e. all of us) can do that.
1b- What he does for a living isn't difficult. Anybody (i.e. any one of us) can do that.
:D
Cas, that was such a good explanation, it was worth reading twice. ;)
:DOriginally Posted by shane
That's why I suggested 'anybody'- a crime, like the one on the Orient Express, could have many perpetrators, but I assumed that his job would be carried out by a single person rather than a group.Originally Posted by Casiopea
![]()
You gave me the idea. :DOriginally Posted by tdol