Verona_82
Senior Member
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2010
- Member Type
- Other
- Native Language
- Russian
- Home Country
- Russian Federation
- Current Location
- Ukraine
Hello,
I've got a really silly question. My book gives the following examples illustrating the usage of 'both', 'either' and 'neither':
Tom rich. Ben is rich too.
Both men are rich.
Either man is rich.
Neither man is poor.
I'm a bit uncomfortable with "either man is rich', largely because it sounds odd in my own language, I guess. I'm accustomed to this word being used to imply "no matter which one of the two", but here we have "each of the two", which obviously means "both". So the question is: what's the point in saying 'either man is rich" when the message is "both of them are rich"?
P.S. The book wants learners to write/say similar sentences about two of their friends, for example: Ivan and Petr are my friends. Both men are engineers. Either is married :-?
Looking forward to your comments.
Thank you.
I've got a really silly question. My book gives the following examples illustrating the usage of 'both', 'either' and 'neither':
Tom rich. Ben is rich too.
Both men are rich.
Either man is rich.
Neither man is poor.
I'm a bit uncomfortable with "either man is rich', largely because it sounds odd in my own language, I guess. I'm accustomed to this word being used to imply "no matter which one of the two", but here we have "each of the two", which obviously means "both". So the question is: what's the point in saying 'either man is rich" when the message is "both of them are rich"?
P.S. The book wants learners to write/say similar sentences about two of their friends, for example: Ivan and Petr are my friends. Both men are engineers. Either is married :-?
Looking forward to your comments.
Thank you.