Either end / both ends
Thad Smith
which means the same as "there are exits at both ends of the hallway".
The second form seems straight-forward in meaning. The former seems coy: choose
either end of the hallway and you find an exit there. The coy statement is
mildly irritating -- why should the listener/reader need to choose something to
discern the meaning when it is possible to make a simple encompassing statement?
This is different than "either way you go you will find some help". In this
context the person being addressed is apparently contemplating making a choice
of ways to go, so "either way" is appropriate.
Comments?
--
Thad
Fred
"Thad Smith" <Thad...@acm.org> wrote in message
news:4cf487e1$0$77537$892e...@auth.newsreader.octanews.com...
>I often hear statements like "there is an exit at either end on the
>hallway", which means the same as "there are exits at both ends of the
>hallway".
>
Mike Barnes
>I often hear statements like "there is an exit at either end on the
>hallway", which means the same as "there are exits at both ends of the
>hallway".
Either is preferable to the all-too-common "there is an exit at both
ends of the hallway". I'd hesitate to say that both are preferable,
though.
--
Mike Barnes
Cheshire, England
mm
wrote:
>I often hear statements like "there is an exit at either end on the hallway",
>which means the same as "there are exits at both ends of the hallway".
>
>The second form seems straight-forward in meaning. The former seems coy: choose
>either end of the hallway and you find an exit there. The coy statement is
>mildly irritating -- why should the listener/reader need to choose something to
>discern the meaning when it is possible to make a simple encompassing statement?
I reacted almost this way when I heard choice two. I was at least 10
and living in line 2 of my list, but maybe older. Maybe I was at
line 3.
>This is different than "either way you go you will find some help". In this
Absolutely. That's fine.
>context the person being addressed is apparently contemplating making a choice
>of ways to go, so "either way" is appropriate.
>
>Comments?
--
Posters should say where they live, and for which area
they are asking questions. I have lived in
Western Pa. 10 years
Indianapolis 7 years
Chicago 6 years
Brooklyn, NY 12 years
Baltimore 27 years
Peter Moylan
> I often hear statements like "there is an exit at either end on the
> hallway", which means the same as "there are exits at both ends of the
> hallway".
No it doesn't. The first means one exit per end. The second means
multiple exits per end.
--
Peter Moylan, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. http://www.pmoylan.org
For an e-mail address, see my web page.
franzi
>Thad Smith wrote:
>> I often hear statements like "there is an exit at either end on the
>> hallway", which means the same as "there are exits at both ends of the
>> hallway".
>
>No it doesn't. The first means one exit per end.
With the additional qualification that there are just two ends.
>The second means
>multiple exits per end.
There exist exits. There exists a hallway. The hallway has just two
ends. Each end has at least one exit.
--
franzi
Donna Richoux
> There exist exits. There exists a hallway. The hallway has just two
> ends. Each end has at least one exit.
There is something on the floor in front of you.
LFS
<grin>
--
Laura
(emulate St. George for email)
postcard98
"Thad Smith" <Thad...@acm.org> wrote
I find the first version: "There is an exit at either end of the hallway" is
more straight forward. The second version sounds like multiple exit
at each end.
Adam Funk
> There exist exits. There exists a hallway. The hallway has just two
> ends. Each end has at least one exit.
It is dark. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
--
I heard that Hans Christian Andersen lifted the title for "The Little
Mermaid" off a Red Lobster Menu. [Bucky Katt]
franzi
Fred
"postcard98" <postc...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:eLKdndFAUJVykmjR...@giganews.com...
franzi
--
franzi
Prai Jei
continuum:
Xyzzy
--
ξ:) Proud to be curly
Interchange the alphabetic letter groups to reply
Thad Smith
I should have thought of "there is an exit at each end of the hallway". That
avoids the issue of how many at each end and makes an encompassing statement
rather than forcing the listener to choose an end.
--
Thad
R H Draney
>
>Donna Richoux set the following eddies spiralling through the space-time
>continuum:
>
>> franzi <et.in.arca...@googlemail.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>> There exist exits. There exists a hallway. The hallway has just two
>>> ends. Each end has at least one exit.
>>
>> There is something on the floor in front of you.
>
>Xyzzy
A hollow plugh says "voice"....r
--
Me? Sarcastic?
Yeah, right.
Nick
It's a well established although arguably illogical idiom. I'll lay
bets that Fowler covered it although I can't find it to quote.
It's certainly so old it's probably too late to do anything about - if
it's good enough for Tennyson to start a poem with I doubt we'll change
it now:
ON either side the river lie
Long fields of barley and of rye,
That clothe the wold and meet the sky;
And thro' the field the road runs by
To many-tower'd Camelot;
--
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