either man is rich

[Verona_82]

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.

[Rover_KE]

'Either man is rich' is not an idiomatic sentence.

Rover

[Verona_82]

Would omitting the noun and ending up with "either is rich" make sense?


There's also one more example in the book.
There are two men in the office. They both have the necessary information.
Either man has the necessary information. Either has the necessary information

What do you think about this one?

[Hedwig]

Hello,

I've got a really silly question.

Dear Verona,
There are no silly questions (only silly answers).

I too would have used both in your example. When I typed either in dictionary.com it returned, among other things, the following usage note. It deals with number and is not what you asked, I know, but what caught my attention was that some of these examples remind me of the one you posted:

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.

[Verona_82]

Thanks, Hedwig.
Your examples seem fine; I just can't puzzle out why my example seems so strange to me.

[Tdol]

For me:

Tom rich. Ben is rich too.
Both men are rich.
Neither man is poor.

Either man is rich. - This doesn't work for me.

[Verona_82]

Thank you. I'm struggling to understand why it doesn't work for anybody exept for the author of the book.

For example, we can say "I stayed in a hotel" or "I stayed at a hotel". Either answer is fine. --> both of them are fine.

[Tdol]

When you say either answer is fine, only one answer would be given/is needed, but in the rich men example you are not talking about one but two- you could say that as they're both rich, either of them could foot the bill.

[Verona_82]

Thank you. So in the light of what you've written, I guess this example is OK providing there is no further context

There are two men in the office. Either man has the necessary information.

(--> you can address your question to either of them)

[Tdol]

I'd say that both have the information so either could help you.