In a recent piece in the LA Times June Casagrande writes about the word each. This is syntactically a fascinating word, which behaves in different ways depending on the company it keeps.
When I read the example, my brain wanted to ditch "that" and fill in "of which" after each. There seems to be a migrating away from "which" to "that," at least here in the U.S.
Thank you for posting this. It's such an interesting study.
I am surprised this post says that "each" is not a pronoun even when it occurs on its own. In the kind of analysis detailed in 'Oxford Modern English Grammar' (Arts 2011) those words considered determinatives when used before nouns are considered pronouns when used on their own. Although "each" can float, it can - unlike its cousin "every" - occur in subject position without a following noun: "Each was given their own reviewer", for example. Why should "each" not be considered a pronoun there?
My preferred analysis for 'each' on its own is to regard it as a determinative (functioning as a Determiner) in a noun phrase which has a zero Head, i.e. an unexpressed Head. But yes, you're right, in my Oxford Modern English Grammar I do treat 'each' on its own as a pronoun. I didn't want to adopt the zero Head analysis in that book to keep the exposition simple. That the kind of choice you have to make when you write a grammar book for a general audience.
I think that would be my preferred analysis too. I used to wonder whether, if Spinillo and Hudson were right about pronouns and determminatives being the same word class, there might be a way to analyse words like "each" (without a following N) as functioning as Determiners in a zero-Head NP, but words like "she" as functioning as Heads in a zero-Determiner NP. But I never had a closer look to see if it might hold water.
When I read the example, my brain wanted to ditch "that" and fill in "of which" after each. There seems to be a migrating away from "which" to "that," at least here in the U.S.
Thank you for posting this. It's such an interesting study.
I am surprised this post says that "each" is not a pronoun even when it occurs on its own. In the kind of analysis detailed in 'Oxford Modern English Grammar' (Arts 2011) those words considered determinatives when used before nouns are considered pronouns when used on their own. Although "each" can float, it can - unlike its cousin "every" - occur in subject position without a following noun: "Each was given their own reviewer", for example. Why should "each" not be considered a pronoun there?
My preferred analysis for 'each' on its own is to regard it as a determinative (functioning as a Determiner) in a noun phrase which has a zero Head, i.e. an unexpressed Head. But yes, you're right, in my Oxford Modern English Grammar I do treat 'each' on its own as a pronoun. I didn't want to adopt the zero Head analysis in that book to keep the exposition simple. That the kind of choice you have to make when you write a grammar book for a general audience.
In Huddleston and Pullum's framework, 'each' on its own is also a determinative, but it its function is Determiner-Head. See my post https://basaarts.substack.com/p/what-the-hell-is-a-determiner.
I think that would be my preferred analysis too. I used to wonder whether, if Spinillo and Hudson were right about pronouns and determminatives being the same word class, there might be a way to analyse words like "each" (without a following N) as functioning as Determiners in a zero-Head NP, but words like "she" as functioning as Heads in a zero-Determiner NP. But I never had a closer look to see if it might hold water.