If John receives a higher grade in physics than in economics and receives a higher grade in economics than in either ...
rosemarieJune 4, 2020
The word 'either' in the question stem
The phrase "John receives a higher grade in economics than in either language..." I interpreted to mean that John receives either a higher grade in Italian, or a higher grade in Russian. But not a higher grade in both Italian and Russian. I watched the explanation and see that economics was placed as a higher grade then both Italian and Russian. Please explain what the word "either" implies, and if it encompasses the idea that economics can have a higher grade then both languages. Thank you!
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Here, the word 'either' is not used to indicate 'either/or.' It is simply shorthand for both Italian and Russian.
Rather than being used to suggest that John received a higher grade in economics than he did in either his Italian OR his Russian class, 'either' is used here to indicate 'both.' Therefore, John received a higher grade than he did in both language classes.
A similar use of the word 'either' can be found in the sentence: "there were shops on either side of the street." This does not mean that there are either shops on one side of the street or the other. It means that there are shops on both sides of the street.
Your interpretation would likely be written as: "John receives a higher grade in economics than in either Italian or Russian."
Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any further questions.
Gabrela-HarewoodJuly 16, 2020
Can you clarify if "either" here means "all other"? I usually read it as one of a set of two, and I don't understand how it is applied as "both" here when they're both already accounted for and it brings in other languages from the original set.
