Distributive adjectives

What are distributive adjectives? They are each, every, either and neither. We use distributive adjectives to refer to singular nouns that usually include a collective group or more than one person. Let’s take a closer look at some examples.

Each

• I want each person to do their job correctly.
• After the exam, each candidate will have to present their thesis to the class.
• I want each student to give the challenge a go.

Every

Nearly interchangeable with ‘each’, only ‘every’ can only be used with singular nouns and not plural nouns.

• I would like every person to stand up, please.
• Every chapter in the series is really interesting.
• Do you want to vote for every single party?

Either: used to choose or imply one out of two options

• Which dog would you like to keep, the Border Collie or the German Shepard?  I don’t like either one of them, I’m looking for a Labrador.
• You can come next week either on Monday or Tuesday, either day is fine.
• I’m looking for a good Tin-tin book, either a hardcover or a softcover. Either one is fine.

Neither: used to imply negativity and not opting or choosing for both options 

• Neither my colleague nor I have done a decent job on the project.
• I really don’t like those two buildings, neither one of them is beautiful.
• How did you find the two cars you were looking into buying? Neither of them was to my liking.

Of these distributive adjectives, which one would you choose?

• I don’t want either of them.

Or

• I want neither of them.

We can also use ‘either’ in the sense of ‘neither’ when negating two options. However, we have to use ‘either’ with a negative construction and ‘neither’ with a positive construction, even though grammatically the sentence is negative, the sense in both is negative.

Both sentences are correct. The first sentence uses a negative construction with ‘don’t and ‘either’ and the second sentence uses a positive construction with ‘want’ and ‘neither’ but both are negative and hold the same meaning. 

See also