Pronunciation
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Pronoun
Pronoun |
- (reciprocal pronoun) Used of a reciprocal relationship among a group of two or more people or things; compare each other.
- The raw recruits helped one another get over the first few days.
- Rainy days seemed to follow one another all summer.
Usage notes
Some usage guides prescribe “each other” for two entities and “one another” for more than two; this distinction is not observed in practice. The Oxford English Dictionary describes the pronoun as referring to “two or more”; Fowler’s suggests that the distinction “is neither of present utility nor based on historical usage”. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English Usage notes that “a few commentators believe the rule to be followed in ‘formal discourse’. This belief will not bear examination: Samuel Johnson’s discourse is perhaps the most formal that exists in English literature, and he has been cited in violation of the rule.”