Using “One Another”
Source: Young, Jesse Colin & The Youngbloods - 1965, Affendaddy, Flickr
Source: The Youngbloods 1968, Herbert S. Gart, Wikimedia
The reciprocal pronoun one another is used to identify a feeling or action shared among three or more people or things, or when the number of people or things is unclear. This pronoun is primarily used in formal writing, so you may not hear it often in everyday conversations. Let’s look at a famous usage of one another. Here’s an excerpt from the song “Get Together” by the Youngbloods.
Source: Midlands Music Festival Crowd Photos Sunday, wazzafree, Flickr
C'mon people now,
Smile on your brother
Ev'rybody get together
Try and love one another right now.
In this song's lyrics, the pronoun everybody definitely refers to more than two people, so one another is the correct reciprocal pronoun for this usage. Plus, it just sounds better.
Using the pronoun one another can make your writing more concise and easier to understand. Here is a passage that lacks those qualities.
Source: Brother-Sister, ROSS HONG KONG, Flickr
Brothers shouldn’t fight with each other. Sisters shouldn’t fight with each other. Brothers shouldn’t fight with sisters, and sisters shouldn’t fight with brothers.
Instead, the author might have written the following:
Brothers and sisters shouldn’t fight with one another.
A very clunky and clumsy (but inclusive!) description has been condensed into one sentence.
Here’s another example in which using one another improves the original sentence.
Source: Doctors and residents working with patients at the
JFK clinic in St. Louis. Satish Chandraprakasam, MD,
Mercy Health, Flickr
Doctors often consult with other doctors when they are making a difficult diagnosis.
This sentence says just the same thing:
Doctors often consult with one another when they are
making a difficult diagnosis.
For the next exercise, use what you have learned to edit the sentences below using the pronoun one another. Write your answers using your notes. When you are finished, check your understanding to see possible responses. - Each team member helped other team members move the ball down the field.
- Susan visits me, and Lisa and I visit Susan. Susan, Lisa, and I also visit Jordan.
- He looked at them, and they looked at him.
- My brother and I drove our mom crazy, and our mom drove us crazy.
- As they neared the finish line, one runner tripped, and then another runner tripped on that runner, and a third runner also tripped.
- The team members helped one another move the ball down the field.
- We visit one another.
- They looked at one another.
- We drove one another crazy.
- As they neared the finish line, the runners tripped one another.
Using “One Another’s”
Source: knock, hellabella, Flickr
As you learned in the previous section, reciprocal pronouns can be made into possessive adjectives by adding ’s. Now, when you use one another’s, should the noun that follows be singular or plural? Just as with each other, it depends on the logic of the sentence. In the previous section, we decided that in the phrase “visiting each other’s house,” house is singular because each person only has one house. However, when friends “finish each other’s sentences,” sentences is plural because the friends speak many sentences.
For example, read the following:
Source: Doctors and residents working
with patients at the JFK clinic in
St. Louis. Elizabeth Mahon, MD, Mercy
health, Flickr
Doctors take meticulous notes when consulting about the patients of other doctors.
This sentence could be made a little clearer if it were written as follows:
Doctors take meticulous notes when consulting about one another’s patients.
Now you try. For each sentence below, determine whether the missing pronoun is one another or one another’s. Respond by clicking on one box for each question.
1. They all yelled over _______, and no one could understand what anyone was saying.
2. The kittens were happily grooming ______fur.
3. Raul, Steven, and Wanda raced ________ to see who was fastest.
4. The chemists often use ________ lab equipment.
It’s your turn to see if you know how to use reciprocal pronouns correctly. Complete the paragraph below. Choose your answer by selecting the phrase from the pull-down menu that correctly completes each sentence.
How did you do? The more you practice, the better you will get at using reciprocal pronouns, and then it’s a sure bet that you and your classmates will want to read one another’s writing more often.