[Ads-l] To both-have

Benjamin Barrett gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM
Mon Aug 31 04:26:00 UTC 2015


I agree with you. I intended to mean that "both" can be replaced by 
"each" or "all" in a general sense; that is, given similar 
constructions, "all," "each" or "both" could variously be used. 
Certainly "all" would not work in the original sentence.

In your examples, I would consider "all" wrong because there are only 
two people; "both" should be used instead (there are probably exceptions).

With respect to

??Each of John and Mary are my friends

if you change it to

Each of John and Mary is my friend

I think it is grammatically fine although I think it is unacceptable in 
normal speech.

Apologies for the confusion,
Benjamin Barrett
Formerly of Seattle, WA

Learn Ainu! https://sites.google.com/site/aynuitak1/home


> Salikoko S. Mufwene <mailto:s-mufwene at UCHICAGO.EDU>
> 30 August 2015 at 21:10
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header 
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: "Salikoko S. Mufwene" <s-mufwene at UCHICAGO.EDU>
> Subject: Re: To both-have
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Doesn't it depend on context? Check the following examples:
>
> Both John and Mary are my friends
> *Each John and Mary are my friends
> ??Each of John and Mary are my friends
> *All John and Mary are my friends
> *All of John and Mary are my friends
> I like both John and Mary
> *I like each John and Mary
> ??I like each of John and Mary
> *I like all John and Mary
> *I like all of John and Mary (Not to be confused with "I like all about
> John and Mary")
> John and Mary are both my friends
> ?John and Mary are each my friends
> John and Mary are all my friends
>
> I'm of course not a native speaker... and my intuitions may be 
> questionable.
>
> Sali.
>

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