“Great numbers were killed on either side.”—Watson’s Philip III. “The Nile flows down the country above five hundred miles from the tropic of Cancer, and marks on either side the extent of fertility by the measure of its inundation.”—Gibbon.
It has been already observed, that the Saxon word ægther signifies each, as Gen. vii. 2. “Clean animals thou shalt take by sevens of each kind,” ægthres gecyndes. The English word either is sometimes used in the same sense. But as this is the only word in our language, by which we can express “one of two,” “which of the two you please,” and as it is generally employed in that sense, perspicuity requires that it be strictly confined to this signification. For, if either be used equivocally, it must, in many cases, be utterly impossible for human ingenuity to ascertain, whether only “one of two,” or “both,” be intended. In such expressions, for example, as “take either side,” “the general ordered his troops to march on either bank,” how is the reader or hearer to divine, whether both sides, both banks, or only one, be signified? By employing each to express “both,” taken individually, and either to denote “one of the two,” all ambiguity is removed.
“The Bishop of Clogher intends to call on you this morning, as well as your humble servant, in my return from Chapel Izzard.”—Addison to Swift. After the writer has spoken of himself in the third person, there is an impropriety in employing the pronoun of the first. Much better “in his return.”
“The ends of a divine and human legislator are vastly different.”—Warburton. From this sentence it would seem, that there is only one subject of discourse, the ends belonging to one individual, a divine and human legislator. The author intended to express two different subjects, namely, “the objects of a divine,” and “the objects of a human legislator.” The demonstrative those is omitted. It should be, “the ends of a divine, and those of a human legislator, are vastly different.” This error consists in defect, or an improper ellipsis of the pronoun: in the following sentence the error is redundancy. “They both met on a trial of skill.” Both means “they two,” as ambo in Latin is equivalent to “ οἱ δύο” It should therefore be, “both met on a trial of skill.”
“These two men (A and B) are both equal in strength.” This, says Baker, is nonsense; for these words signify only, that A is equal in strength, and B equal in strength, without implying to whom; so that the word equal has nothing to which it refers. “A and B,” says he, “are equal in strength,” is sense; this means, that they are equal to each other. “A and B are both equal in strength to C,” is likewise sense. It signifies, that A is equal to C, and that B likewise is equal to C. Thus Mr. Baker. Now, it appears to me, that, when he admits the expression, “are both equal,” as significant of the equality of each, he admits a phraseology which does not strictly convey that idea. For if we say, “A and B are both equal,” it seems to me to imply, that the two individuals are possessed of two attributes or qualities, one of which is here expressed; and in this sense only, as I conceive, is this phraseology correct. Thus we may say, with strict propriety, “A and B are both equal in strength, and superior in judgment to their contemporaries.” Or it may denote, that “they two together, namely, A and B, are equal to C singly.” In the former case, both is necessarily followed by and, which is in Latin rendered by et. Thus, “A and B are the two things, (both) equal in strength, and (add) superior in judgment to their contemporaries.” In the latter case, it is equivalent to ambo, expressing two collectively, as, “they two together are equal to C, but not separately.” I am aware, that the word both in English, like ambo in Latin, is an ambiguous term, denoting either “the two collectively,” or “the two separately,” and that many examples of the latter usage may be adduced. But that surely cannot be deemed a correct or appropriate term, which, in its strict signification, conveys an idea different from that intended by the speaker; or which leaves the sentiment in obscurity, and the reader in doubt. The word each, substituted for both, renders the expression clear and precise, thus, “A and B are each equal to C, in strength.”[144]
An error the reverse of this occurs in the following sentence: “This proves, that the date of each letter must have been nearly coincident.” Coincident with what? Not surely with itself; nor can the date of each letter be coincident with each other. It should be, “that the dates of both letters must have been nearly coincident with each other.”
“It’s great cruelty to torture a poor dumb animal.” Better, ’Tis, in order to distinguish the contraction from the genitive singular of the pronoun it.
“Neither Lady Haversham, nor Miss Mildmay, will ever believe but what I have been entirely to blame.” The pronoun what, equivalent to that which, is here improperly used for that. This mode of expression still obtains among the lower orders of the people, and is not confined to them in the northern parts of the island. It should be, “that I have been.” The converse of this error occurs in the following passages:
“That all our doings may be ordered by thy governance, to do always that is righteous in thy sight.”—Book of Common Prayer.
“For, if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted, according to that a man hath.”—Bible.