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Which one of these two sentences is grammatical?

(1) For every variable x and y, so and so...

(2) For every variables x and y, so and so...

Grammarly seems to prefer (1), but it sounds strange to my ear...

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  • 1
    Those are not sentences.
    – tchrist ♦
    Jan 17 at 18:37
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    I’m voting to close this question because neither of the texts submitted to Grammarly are meaningful sequences in English. But even if they were, it's not our job to debug Grammarly.
    – FumbleFingers
    Jan 18 at 13:43

3 Answers 3

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"every" is an indefinite pronoun and takes a singular noun. e.g; Every man and woman participated in the game. So, " for every variable "x" and "y" is the correct sentence.

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    Yes. Math norms use "For every variable x and y" or "For all values of x and y."
    – Yosef Baskin
    Jan 17 at 19:08
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There is a way to use the plural but it uses the word 'all' instead of 'every' giving the phrase "... for all variables x and y ...". If Grammarly genuinely suggests "... for every variables x and y ..." then it is wrong.

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In these cases its useful to rewrite the sentence.

For example:

For every variable x and y

becomes

For every variable x and for every variable y

It is easier to notice how your second example is incorrect, since it would be rewritten as:

For every variables x and for every variables y

Likewise,

For all variable x and for all variable y

doesn't sound correct, but

For all variables x and for all variables y

does.

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