Each & Both

[ulya]

Hi.

Each of these children was different from the other.

I thought we must used in above sentence Both. My english book said we can use each with singular nouns.But there children in plural.
Please explain me.Thanks.

 

[billmcd]

Hi.

Each of these children was different from the other.

I thought we must used in above sentence Both. My english book said we can use each with singular nouns.But there children in plural.
Please explain me.Thanks.

"Both were..." for two children; "Each was..." for more than two.

 

[5jj]

My [STRIKE]e[/STRIKE]English book said we can use each with singular nouns.But there children in plural.

Each (one) of the children was ...

Each of these children was different from the other. That's an unnatural sentence if we have only two children. We would simply say, 'The children were different'. If there were more than two children, we'd say, "Each child was different from the others in some way'.