Here are several possible sentences I currently can figure out.
- Select an apple for Mary and John respectively.
- Select two apples for Mary and John respectively.
- Select each apple for Mary and John.
- Select an apple for each Mary and John.
For 1, it sounds correct. But as we overall have to select two apples so I have some questions when I see "an apple" in the sentence.
For 2, it is just a counterpart of 1.
For 3, it sounds weird and should be wrong.
For 4, we usually say "for each people". I don't know if this construction is right and if this sentence conveys my meaning.
Follow-up question
According to @Steve Ives,
Select an apple and a pear for Mary and John respectively.
which means select an apple for Mary and a pear for John.
The above interpretation should be correct. I often construct sentence in this way. If this is correct, then one could infer the following sentence can convey the meaning; although it is odd.
Select an apple and an apple for Mary and John respectively.
which should be equivalent to,
Select two apples for Mary and John respectively.
This contradicts to what @user3169 said. So which one is correct? I am confused.