Someone wrote me to challenge the use of “either” to mean “both” as in phrases like “on either side.” We’re more used to thinking “either” as meaning “one or the other” as in “you could take either the high road or the low road.”
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the oldest meaning of "either" is "each of the two," and the first recorded instance of the use of the word in writing is from 10th-century Anglo Saxon:
Hwa is þætte ariman mæge hwæt þær moncynnes forwearð on ægðere hand [“on either hand”].
Here's an example from Middle English, 1325:
Þe holi strem of flum iordane On aeiþer side [“on either side’] stude still as stane. {“The holy stream of the River Jordan on either side stood still as stone.”]
Here’s an 1819 example from Sir Walter Scott:
There was a huge fire-place at either end of the hall.
“Either” meaning “One or other of the two” appears almost three centuries after this meaning.
The original meaning of the word is preserved in traditional phrases like "on either hand" and "on either side."
10.29.2011
10.27.2011
None: Singular or Plural?
I’ve just come back from a long trip, so this is my first post in quite a while.
(You can find photos of our travels on Picasa.
A correspondent wrote to say that since ”none“ is a contraction of “not one” it should always be treated as singular.
This is a common misconception.
The Oxford English Dictionary explains that the word was originally spelled nan in Anglo-Saxon, and entered the language as the opposite of an.
The OED also provides this usage note:
It also says that with the meaning “no one” “none” is most often plural.
Michael Quinion has an excellent discussion of this point on his wonderful site, World Wide Words.
This view is not peculiar to UK writers.
The rather picky stylebook of the New York Times urges its writers to avoid singular “none” most of the time.
See http://topics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/hobgoblins/.
(You can find photos of our travels on Picasa.
A correspondent wrote to say that since ”none“ is a contraction of “not one” it should always be treated as singular.
This is a common misconception.
The Oxford English Dictionary explains that the word was originally spelled nan in Anglo-Saxon, and entered the language as the opposite of an.
The OED also provides this usage note:
Many commentators state that none should take singular concord, but this has generally been less common than plural concord, especially between the 17th and 19th centuries.
It also says that with the meaning “no one” “none” is most often plural.
Michael Quinion has an excellent discussion of this point on his wonderful site, World Wide Words.
This view is not peculiar to UK writers.
The rather picky stylebook of the New York Times urges its writers to avoid singular “none” most of the time.
Despite a widespread assumption that it stands for not one, the word has been construed as a plural (not any) in most contexts for centuries. H. W. Fowler’s Dictionary of Modern English Usage (1926) endorsed the plural use. Make none plural except when emphasizing the idea of not one or no one — and then consider using those phrases instead.
See http://topics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/hobgoblins/.
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