| each the other; one another (used as a compound reciprocal pronoun): to strike at each other; to hold each other's hands; to love each other. |
| each other pron. Each the other. Used to indicate that a relationship or an action is reciprocal among the members of the set referred to by the antecedent: The boys like each other. Usage Note: It is often maintained that each other should be used to denote a reciprocal relation between two entities, with one another reserved for more than two: thus The twins dislike each other but The triplets dislike one another. Sixty-four percent of Usage Panelists say that they follow this rule in their own writing. But it should be pointed out that many reputable writers from Samuel Johnson onward have ignored the rule and that the use of each other for more than two, or of one another for two, cannot be considered incorrect. In particular, there are contexts in which each other and one another are subtly different in meaning. When speaking of an ordered series of events or stages, one another is the preferred form. Thus the sentence The waiters followed one another into the room was preferred by 73 percent of the Usage Panel to the sentence The waiters followed each other into the room. · Each other should not be used as the subject of a clause in writing. Instead of We always know what each other is thinking, one should write Each of us knows what the other is thinking. · The possessive forms of each other and one another are written each other's and one another's: The boys wore each other's (not each others') coats. They had forgotten one another's (not one anothers') names. |
each other
Also, one another. Each one the other, one the other, as in The boys like each other, or The birds were fighting one another over the crumbs. Both of these phrases indicate a reciprocal relationship or action between the subjects preceding (the boys, the birds). Formerly, many authorities held that each other should be confined to a relationship between two subjects only and one another used when there are more than two. Today most do not subscribe to this distinction, which was never strictly observed anyway. [Late 1300s] Also see at each other's throats.
