Which is correct: more expensive than "either "A or B" or "both A and B"?

Question

The prices of A, B, and C are 10, 50, 100 dollars, respectively. In this case, which of the following is correct?

C is more expensive than both A and B.

C is more expensive than either A or B.

Some says the first is correct, others say the second is correct, so I am confused.

"Some says" Can you clarify exactly who says they are correct? # — James K, Commented Oct 13, 2019 at 16:11

James K · Accepted Answer · 2019-10-13 16:17:19Z

2

Both are correct, idiomatic and mean the same: that C>A and C>B

Though unlikely, the first could possibly be misunderstood as C > A+B. If that was intended you could say

C is more expensive than A and B put together.

It would be hard to misunderstand the second. If you mean C>A or C>B you would have to say:

C is either more expensive than A or more expensive than B

answered Oct 13, 2019 at 16:17

James K

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While they are both grammatical and idiomatic, I dispute your claim that C > A+B is either unlikely or a misunderstanding. In fact, I find it very difficult to parse it in a way where it doesn't mean that. As far as I'm concerned, I would say the opposite. (However, despite that, both sentences still evaluate to a true statement. 100 is greater than 10, 50, or 60.)
– Jason Bassford
Commented Oct 14, 2019 at 5:54

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