8/17/2016 Reciprocal Pronouns

ReciprocalPronouns
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ReciprocalPronouns.htm

TheFarlexGrammarBook>EnglishGrammar>PartsofSpeech>Pronouns>ReciprocalPronouns

ReciprocalPronouns
Definition
Reciprocalpronounsareusedtorefertotwoormorepeoplewhoareorwerethesubjectofthesameverb,with
bothorallpartiesmutuallyreceivingorbenefitingfromthatactioninthesameway.Reciprocalpronounsalways
functionastheobjectsofverbs,referringbacktothetwoormorepeoplewhoareorwerethesubject(s).

ThetworeciprocalpronounsinEnglishareeachotherandoneanother.Inmoretraditionalgrammar,eachotheris
usedtoidentifyonlytwopeoplewhoareengagedinthemutualaction,whileoneanotherdescribesmorethantwo
people.However,thissupposedruleislesscommonlyappliedinmodernEnglish,witheachotherandoneanother
oftenbeingusedinterchangeably.

ReciprocalPronounsvs.ReflexivePronouns
Becausethesubjectsofthesentencearealsotheobjectsofthesameverb,itmightseemlogicaltouseoneofthe
reflexivepronounstorepresenttheminstead,asin:
Wecallourselveseveryday.
However,thisisincorrect.Reflexivepronounsareusedwithonewayactions,sosayingwecallourselvesmeans
eachpersoniscallinghimorherselfindividuallyi.e.,personAcallspersonAeveryday,personBcallspersonB
everyday,andsoon.

Becausewearedescribingareciprocalactionoftheverb(meaningtheactionismutuallygivenandreceived
betweenthepartiesinvolved),wemustthereforeuseareciprocalpronoun.Thecorrectexpressionwouldbe:
Wecalleachothereveryday.
or
Wecalloneanothereveryday.
NowthesentencemeansthatpersonAcallspersonBeveryday,andpersonBcallspersonAeveryday.

Usingeachothervs.oneanother
Aswesaidalready,wecanusebotheachotherandoneanothertorefertoreciprocalactionbetweentwo
individualsorbetweenmultiplepeopleinlargergroupsitdependsentirelyonthecontext.Ifwehavealreadybeen
talkingaboutMaryandSusanbeforewesaytheyloveoneanother,thenitisobviousthattheactionislimitedto
thosetwo.Likewise,ifwehadbeentalkingaboutthevariousmembersofalargefamilyandthensaytheylove
eachother,thenitisclearthattheactionisreciprocalamongalloftheindividualsinthegroup.

Again,whiletraditionalandproscriptivegrammarianssometimesinsistthateachothercanonlybeusedbetween
twopeopleandoneanothercanonlybeusedbetweenmorethantwopeople,thisguidelineisnotbasedon
historicalorlinguisticevidencethetwoareinterchangeable.

EachothersandOneanothers
Whenwewishtomakereciprocalpronounspossessive,wealwaystreatthemassingularandaddstotheend.
Becausebotheachotherandoneanotherrefertotheindividualswithinapairorgroup,theycannottaketheplural
possessiveform(i.e.,eachothersoroneanothers).

However,becausewearetalkingaboutthingsbelongingtotwoormorepeople,thenounsthatfollowtheir
possessiveformareusuallypluralized.Forexample:

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8/17/2016 Reciprocal Pronouns

MyneighborandIspentalotoftimeateachothershouseswhenwewerekids.
Thestudentsweresentoffinpairstocorrectoneanothersassignments.
Justrememberthatuncountablenounsarealwayssingular,asin:
Everyoneattherallywasbolsteredbyeachothersenergy.

Quiz

1.Whichreciprocalpronounisusedwhentalkingabouttwopeople?

a)eachother
b)oneanother
c)themselves
d)A&B
e)B&C

2.Whatgrammaticalroledoreciprocalpronounstakeinasentence?

a)thesubject
b)theobject
c)theobjectcomplement
d)thesubjectcomplement

3.Whichofthefollowingdoweaddtoreciprocalpronounstoindicatepossession?

a)s
b)s
c)s
d)

4.Whendoweuseareciprocalpronouninsteadofareflexivepronoun?

a)Whenthesubjectofthesentencereceivestheactionofthesameverb
b)Whentheobjectofthesentencereceivestheactionofthesameverb
c)Whenthesubjectsofthesentencereceivetheactionofthesameverbindividuallyandseparately
d)Whenthesubjectsofthesentencereceivetheactionofthesameverbmutuallyandequally

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