either

/ee"dheuhr, uy"dheuhr/, adj.

1. one or the other of two: You may sit at either end of the table.

2. each of two; the one and the other: There are trees on either side of the river.

pron.

3. one or the other: There are two roads into the town, and you can take either. Either will do.

conj.

4. (a coordinating conjunction that, when preceding a word or statement followed by the disjunctive or, serves to emphasize the possibility of choice): Either come or write.

adv.

5. also; too; as well; to the same degree (used after negative clauses coordinated by and, or, or nor, or after negative subordinate clauses): He's not fond of parties, and I'm not either. If you don't come, she won't come either.

[bef. 900; ME; OE aegther, contr. of aeghwaether each of two, both; see AY¹, WHETHER]

Usage. When the pronoun EITHER is the subject and comes immediately before the verb, the verb is singular: Either is good enough. Either grows well in this soil. When EITHER is followed by a prepositional phrase with a plural object, there is a tendency to use a plural verb, but a singular verb is more common: Either of them is (or are) good enough. Either of the shrubs grows (or grow) well in this soil.

As an adjective EITHER refers only to two of anything: either side of the river; using either hand. As a pronoun EITHER sometimes occurs in reference to more than two (either of the three children), but ANY is more common in this construction (any of the three children). As a conjunction, EITHER often introduces a series of more than two: The houses were finished with either cedar siding or stucco or brick. The pizza is topped with either anchovies, green peppers, or mushrooms.

Usage guides say that the verb used with subjects joined by the correlative conjunctions EITHER ... OR (or NEITHER ... NOR) is singular or plural depending on the number of the noun or pronoun nearer the verb: Either the parents or the school determines the program. Either the school or the parents determine the program. Practice in this matter varies, however, and often the presence of one plural, no matter what its position, results in a plural verb: Either the parents or the school determine the program.

In carefully edited writing, these correlative conjunctions are usually placed so that what follows the first correlative is parallel to what follows the second: The damage was done by either the wind or vandals or either by the wind or by vandals (not done either by the wind or vandals). See also NEITHER.

Pronunciation. The pronunciations /ee"dheuhr/ and /nee"dheuhr/, with the vowel /ee/ of see, are the usual ones in American English for the words EITHER and NEITHER. The pronunciations /uy"dheuhr/ and /nuy"dheuhr/, with the /uy/ vowel of bite, occur occasionally for these words, chiefly in the speech of the educated and in the network standard English of radio and television. Both the /ee/ and /uy/ pronunciations existed in British English, and in the 19th century the /uy/ came to predominate in standard British speech.

In American English, therefore, it reflects a recent borrowing from British speech rather than a survival from the time of early settlement, influenced as well by the ei spelling, which is pronounced as /uy/ in such words as height and stein.

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