3

Can "each" be substituted by "either" in a construction like

There were two girls, either with a flower?

And if so, is it clear that totally there are two flowers?

Is it crucial that the sentence is affirmative? Will

"There were two girls, neither had a flower"

sound better?

Improve this question
3
  • 4
    My instinct is to say no. Either usually refers to a choice between options, not to both, as in "You can choose either the fish or the steak." There are some cases where it can mean both, as in "Bodyguards stood on either side of the Leader" but I don't feel like this is one of them. But I admit I don't have a very good reference for why.
    – stangdon
    Commented Jul 10, 2016 at 14:55
  • I would agree with @stangdon here. You would usually use either when talking about two or more alternatives (e.g. in your example of bodyguards, there is side X and side Y - alternative sides), but in this context all we know is that they are both girls and both have a flower, so 'each' seems a better fit.
    – 13509
    Commented Jul 10, 2016 at 15:28
  • But what is the essential difference betwee sides and girls? One might as well say: "there is girl A and girl B - alternative girls"
    – Serguei
    Commented Jul 10, 2016 at 16:29

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
-2

Your sentence

There were two girls, either with a flower

sounds awkward, I think you probably mean

There were two girls, either one had a flower

"Either one" means both people and since you are saying they have flowers with them, the possessive "had" is used.

Only using "either with a flower" leaves the reader suspended since they would be waiting for something like

either with a flower or with a ribbon

Using "either one" would mean both have flowers and there would be two flowers.

There were two girls, neither had a flower

is understandable since you are using the possessive "had" meaning there were no flowers. If you had used

There were two girls, neither with a flower

a similar ambiguity would occur

neither with a flower nor with something else

would be expected.

Improve this answer
3
  • 2
    "either one had a flower" is not correct (it implies that one or the other, but not both, had a flower, and the structure is still awkward), while there is nothing wrong, only a little old-fashioned, about "neither with a flower".
    – Nathan Tuggy
    Commented Jul 10, 2016 at 20:13
  • "If either one had a flower", or "before either one had a flower", or "when either one had a flower", or "neither one had a flower", but not "There were two girls, either one had a flower."
    – ColleenV
    Commented Jul 10, 2016 at 20:26
  • "either one had a flower" = "either girl had a flower" = "both girls had flowers", 1. used as a determiner: You use either in front of the singular form of a countable noun to say that something is true about each of two people or things here.
    – Peter
    Commented Jul 12, 2016 at 10:03

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .