each other

[dido4]

I got the question from a test.

1.The telephone can't work normaly.

I couldn't hear ______ voice.

(A)each other's (B) the other's (C) one another's (D) each's

The answer is (A)

Q1: Why we can't choose (B)(C)(D) as the correct answers?

Q2:How do we explain these 4 options or why we choose (A)?

Q3.What different meaning do we have if we choose all the options as an answer?

Thank you

[Coffa]

Originally Posted by dido4

I got the question from a test.
1.The telephone can't work normaly.
I couldn't hear ______ voice.
(A)each other's (B) the other's (C) one another's (D) each's
The answer is (A)
Q1: Why we can't choose (B)(C)(D) as the correct answers?
Q2:How do we explain these 4 options or why we choose (A)?
Q3.What different meaning do we have if we choose all the options as an answer?
Thank you

Hi dido4,

I can tell you categorically that the answer is not A. The question is wrong. The only grammatical answer is B.

[Casiopea]

I agree with Coffa's post. The correct choice is (B):

(B) I couldn't hear the other's voice.

Here "the other's voice" is short for the other person's voice.

Choice (A), each other's, doesn't fit. It's a reciprocal pronoun; it refers to more than one person, e.g., they, we:

(A) We/They couldn't hear each other.

"each other's" doesn't work with the singular pronoun "I".


The same holds true for choice (C). "one another" requires a plural pronoun:

(C) They/We couldn't hear one another.


Choice (D) doesn't fit. "each" refers to more than one, so a plural pronoun, not a singular one is required. Moreover, "each's" isn't Standard English. "each" can be a determiner and a pronoun, and those forms cannot take apostrophe, -'s.

(D) *We/They couldn't hear each's voice. <ungrammatical>

Hope that helps.