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Pastimes : SI Grammar and Spelling Lab -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jbe who wrote (2502)	5/21/1999 4:03:00 PM
From: Wigglesworth	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 4711

<<I submit that "each" and "both" can sometimes be used interchangeably>> Agreed! Perfect sense! Besides Each and Both, you should also include: Its and It's. Their and There. Nymph and Concatenated Pupa!!! To name a few. I even stress that they are ALL WAYS used interchangeably on SI.

To: jbe who wrote (2502)	5/21/1999 4:07:00 PM
From: Anaxagoras	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4711

BTW, the issue at hand can be described more technically as follows: Whether the expression 'both' suffers a collective/distributive ambiguity. Some here claim yes, others claim no (i.e. the word's use is always collective). I have my own thoughts on the matter, I'm just trying to clarify things. An expression is ambiguous if and only if it has more than one meaning. It turns out that several common English words have this kind of ambiguity, and it's been discussed in various languages at least since the middle ages. In fact, I haven't checked recently, and my memory is fuzzy, but some of my contemporaries may have had an inkling of this as well in ancient discussions. Anyway, for example, and off the top of my head, 'all' has this kind of collective/distributive ambiguity. Take the sentence 'All the people are noisy.' Under the distributive reading, the sentence would not accurately describe a group of people unless each individual were making a ruckus; under the collective reading it would suffice for the group to be loud even if there were a silent individual in their midst. FWIW, Anaxagoras

To: jbe who wrote (2502)	5/21/1999 4:37:00 PM
From: The Philosopher	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 4711

I submit that "each" and "both" can sometimes be used interchangeably Citation to authority, please. Again, I am hampered by being in the office and not at my reference shelf so I cannot consult Fowler and my Shorter OED (and soon my FULL OED, since I took advantage of the sale on it. THEN I will DEVESTATE you. Until then, though...). However, my Random House Webster's College Dictionary (which I have at my office since it is the standard dictionary consulted by the Supreme Court of the State of Washington when it cites to a dictionary) says: both. adj. 1. one and the other; two together. pron. 2. the one as well as the other. conj. 3. alike; equally. each. adj. 1. every one of two or more considered individually or one by one. pron. 2. every one individually; each one. These don't sound interchangable to me. I will broaden my attack when I return home, if I have time tonight (my son gets back from college this evening, so my time may be limited.) However, I await your citation of authority for your position.