Basic+ Word of the Day: each

each (adjective, pronoun)

They love each other.

We use the word each to mean ‘all the things in a group.’ You can use each in different places in a sentence, but it has the same meaning.

• Each child is different. (=All the children are different.)
• You have to answer each of the questions. (=You have to answer all the questions.)
• We each told a story. (=We all told a story.)

We use each other when someone does something to another person, and that person does the same thing to them. For example, “We love each other,” means, “I love you and you love me.”

• They gave each other presents.

Don't confuse it with

Each and every are very similar, but we usually use each to talk about all the different things in a group, and every to talk about the things as a group. For example: Every doctor in the hospital was at the meeting. (=There was one meeting, and all the doctors were there as a group.) He had a meeting with each doctor in the hospital. (=There were lots of meetings, and all the doctors had one.) We can also use each to talk about two things, but we can’t use every. For example, we can say, “She had a different shoe on each foot,” but, “She had a different shoe on every foot” is not correct.

In pop culture

At the end of this commercial for Dove chocolate, it says “Live each day as if it’s the only one.” This is like the Latin phrase carpe diem that you might be familiar with. Do you agree? Is it an effective commercial?

There are other meanings of each.