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Universal quantifiers

English Language & Usage Asked by elm on May 25, 2021

In the following statements all the individuals of a group are addressed for gratitude:

  1. Gratitude is owed to each member of the group.
  2. Gratitude is owed to every member of the group.
  3. Gratitude is owed to each and every member of the group.

Hence to ask which are the distinctive qualities of each, every and every and any ?

2 Answers

A quick inspection at the etymology of each and every, consider

reveals that each has its origins in Old English and is a short for ever alike, whereas every was originated in early 13c as a contraction of each and ever.

Following the sources depicted above, in Modern English, every conveys the same meaning as each, yet it strives for an emphasis on each singular item in a group.

Correct answer by elm on May 25, 2021

Following John's lead, I found this discussion of Vendler's Each and Every, Any and All (1962) in Madsen's blog:

Vendler describes the differences between each, every, and all in terms of collective reference vs. individual reference. His theory is that all is collective, while each and every are distributive.

We thus have differences like

  • You can buy each of these items for $5 (distributive)
  • You can buy all of these items for $5 (collective)

Every, on the other hand, can be seen as a quantification over all the distributive attributions so that "every is between each and all" in meaning (p. 77). We thus get — according to my intuitions — slightly more ambiguous examples with every:

  • You can buy every one of these items for $5

According to my intuition, this could lean towards both a collective ($5 in total) and a distributive reading ($5 per item).

Answered by Martin F on May 25, 2021

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