one another

English

Pronunciation

  • (file)

Pronoun

one another

  1. (reciprocal pronoun) Used of a reciprocal relationship among a group of two or more people or things; compare each other.
    The raw recruits helped one another get over the first few days.
    Rainy days seemed to follow one another all summer.

Usage notes

Some usage guides prescribe “each other” for two entities and “one another” for more than two; this distinction is not observed in practice. The Oxford English Dictionary describes the pronoun as referring to “two or more”; Fowler’s suggests that the distinction “is neither of present utility nor based on historical usage”. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English Usage notes that “a few commentators believe the rule to be followed in ‘formal discourse’. This belief will not bear examination: Samuel Johnson’s discourse is perhaps the most formal that exists in English literature, and he has been cited in violation of the rule.”

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See also

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