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Here is the pertinent part of the sentence:

"Seller and Purchaser each warrants and represents that it has not engaged the services of any agent, finder or broker in connection with the transaction which is the subject of this Agreement...."

While it is true that "each" is always singular, the question is whether the word "each" can render the plural "Seller and Purchaser" singular by its inclusion in the sentence.

I believe the answer is no, based on the fact that if you replace "Seller and Purchaser" with the pronoun "they," the sentence makes no sense:

"They each warrants and represents...."

But you can't simply remove the word "each" because then the sentence would imply that Seller and Purchaser warrant and represent on each other's behalf, which is clearly not the intent of the sentence either. So the answer, in my mind, is to break up the sentence into 2 separate sentences:

"Purchaser warrants and represents....Seller warrants and represents...."

Any other thoughts or suggestions?

Martin L
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  • This is legal English, which I suspect is best left to lawyers. – Peter Shor Aug 23 '13 at 17:42
  • I would always expect Seller and Purchaser each warrant and represent that they have not... Comment rather than answer because it is based purely on feeling, but I have seen a goodish number of these clauses in my time. – Tim Lymington Aug 23 '13 at 21:02
  • Answered at http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~natt/copyediting/agreementreading.pdf (though 'The men each have requested' would be 'The men have each requested' in BrE). Different usages of 'each' are involved. – Edwin Ashworth Aug 23 '13 at 22:32

2 Answers2

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My problem is more with the "it".

I would write

Seller and Purchaser each warrant and represent that they have not engaged the services...

mikeY
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"Seller and Purchaser each warrant and represent..."

The "and" makes it plural, thus we conjugate accordingly. The word "each" seems to function as an adverb because it describes "how" warranting and representing are done - that they will be performed even when either seller or purchaser is without the other.

Mickael Caruso
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