“Each other” - singular or plural in this sentence












1















In this sentence, should the last word be "life" or " lives"?



(Imagine two children brought up by the wrong parents to make this sentence make sense!)



They had had each other's life/lives.



Many thanks for a definitive answer!










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  • Each and other can be split, precisely for situations like this: They each had had the other's life. Definitely singular with this construction.

    – John Lawler
    2 days ago


















1















In this sentence, should the last word be "life" or " lives"?



(Imagine two children brought up by the wrong parents to make this sentence make sense!)



They had had each other's life/lives.



Many thanks for a definitive answer!










share|improve this question























  • Each and other can be split, precisely for situations like this: They each had had the other's life. Definitely singular with this construction.

    – John Lawler
    2 days ago
















1












1








1


1






In this sentence, should the last word be "life" or " lives"?



(Imagine two children brought up by the wrong parents to make this sentence make sense!)



They had had each other's life/lives.



Many thanks for a definitive answer!










share|improve this question














In this sentence, should the last word be "life" or " lives"?



(Imagine two children brought up by the wrong parents to make this sentence make sense!)



They had had each other's life/lives.



Many thanks for a definitive answer!







grammar






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asked 2 days ago









M SmithM Smith

71




71













  • Each and other can be split, precisely for situations like this: They each had had the other's life. Definitely singular with this construction.

    – John Lawler
    2 days ago





















  • Each and other can be split, precisely for situations like this: They each had had the other's life. Definitely singular with this construction.

    – John Lawler
    2 days ago



















Each and other can be split, precisely for situations like this: They each had had the other's life. Definitely singular with this construction.

– John Lawler
2 days ago







Each and other can be split, precisely for situations like this: They each had had the other's life. Definitely singular with this construction.

– John Lawler
2 days ago












1 Answer
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The "other" of "each" of them can only have one life. So, as terrible as it sounds, "life" is right.






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New contributor




Alana Forsyth is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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  • Many thanks - I agree

    – M Smith
    yesterday











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1 Answer
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The "other" of "each" of them can only have one life. So, as terrible as it sounds, "life" is right.






share|improve this answer








New contributor




Alana Forsyth is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.





















  • Many thanks - I agree

    – M Smith
    yesterday
















1














The "other" of "each" of them can only have one life. So, as terrible as it sounds, "life" is right.






share|improve this answer








New contributor




Alana Forsyth is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.





















  • Many thanks - I agree

    – M Smith
    yesterday














1












1








1







The "other" of "each" of them can only have one life. So, as terrible as it sounds, "life" is right.






share|improve this answer








New contributor




Alana Forsyth is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.










The "other" of "each" of them can only have one life. So, as terrible as it sounds, "life" is right.







share|improve this answer








New contributor




Alana Forsyth is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.









share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer






New contributor




Alana Forsyth is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.









answered 2 days ago









Alana ForsythAlana Forsyth

493




493




New contributor




Alana Forsyth is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.





New contributor





Alana Forsyth is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.






Alana Forsyth is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.













  • Many thanks - I agree

    – M Smith
    yesterday



















  • Many thanks - I agree

    – M Smith
    yesterday

















Many thanks - I agree

– M Smith
yesterday





Many thanks - I agree

– M Smith
yesterday


















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