Today we’ll be talking about reciprocal pronouns. These are pronouns that we use if the action of the verb is performed mutually between two or more entities (usually people). So, all entities involved act as subjects of the verb and as objects of the verb at the same time. There are two reciprocal pronouns in English, each other and one another. Have a look at the following example:
Emma and Jane help EACH OTHER.
This means each of them helps the other, so:
Emma helps Jane and Jane helps Emma.
As you can see, in the first clause of this paraphrased sentence Emma is the subject and Jane is the object. In the second part Jane is the subject and Emma is the object.
In the example above the entities function as objects of the verb, but these may also be objects of prepositions that are used with the verbs, like in the following example:
The girls often buy presents for ONE ANOTHER.
Here each entity belonging to the girls, so each individual girl, acts as the subject and also as the object of the preposition FOR. If we paraphrase the sentence, we get something along these lines:
Each of the girls buys presents for each of the other girls.
So, just like before, the action is mutual.
each other vs one another
If you learn English as a foreign language, you were probably told at one time or another that we use EACH OTHER if there are two entities and ONE ANOTHER if there are more than two. This is the traditional approach, recommended by prescriptive grammar. But the truth is they are used interchangeably. Have a look at these two examples:
Emma and Jane like EACH OTHER.
Emma and Jane like ONE ANOTHER.
They are both correct, although only two people are involved here.
Similarly, if there are more people involved, we can also use either pronoun.
The girls trust EACH OTHER.
The girls trust ONE ANOTHER.
Reciprocal Pronouns vs Reflexive Pronouns
Reciprocal pronouns are often confused with reflexive pronouns because in either case there subjects are also the objects at the same time. The difference is that in case of reflexive pronouns the subject performs the action on himself or herself, whereas in case of reciprocal pronouns two or more subjects perform the action on the other entities in the group, not on themselves. Have a look at these examples:
Emma and Jane describe THEMSELVES.
Here we have the reflexive pronoun THEMSELVES. We could paraphrase this sentence like so:
Emma describes herself and Jane describes herself.
Or even like so:
Emma describes Emma and Jane describes Jane.
On the other hand, if we use a reciprocal pronoun instead, we’ll get:
Emma and Jane describe EACH OTHER.
This, in turn, could be paraphrased like so:
Emma describes Jane and Jane describes Emma.
Possessive Forms of Reciprocal Pronouns
Reciprocal pronouns may also be used in possessive forms. Then, we treat them as singular and add the possessive ending -S after an apostrophe at the end. The following noun, however, is usually used in plural form if it’s a count noun. This is because we usually talk about separate things belonging to each entity in the group. If it’s a noncount noun, it’s used in singular, though.
The Wilsons and the Porters like EACH OTHER’S children.
Here we’re talking about two separate children or groups of children, one belonging to the Wilson family, the other to the Porter family.
Here’s an example with a noncount noun.
Their kids often use ONE ANOTHER’S stuff.
So, each of the kids uses things belonging to the other kids.