Literary notes about Either (AI summary)
The word “either” is a versatile linguistic tool in literature, employed to present alternatives, contrast choices, or emphasize inclusions and exclusions. For example, it is used to list alternative possibilities as in [1], where Turgenev connects “him or my mother,” and in [2], where Molière specifies a movement “either inward or outward.” Its use is not confined solely to binary choices; in descriptive passages like [3] and [4] it helps distribute attributes over different elements or outcomes. At times, “either” appears in negative contexts to reinforce exclusions—for instance, in [5] Shaw’s character refuses to “talk about it either,” or in [6] where a lack of courage is highlighted. Even in more formal or philosophical texts such as [7] and [8], it functions to contrast sequences or abstract options. Across these diverse examples—from epic narratives to philosophical treatises—“either” provides a subtle yet effective mechanism to structure alternatives, balancing language and meaning within the literary form.
- You see, he lives thirty versts away only, and it is a long time since last I saw either him or my mother.
— from Fathers and Sons by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev - This depends solely on a slight movement of the wrist, either inward or outward.
— from The Middle-Class Gentleman by Molière - Four spots of down on either of his two cheeks: a blue spot, a purple spot, a green spot, a yellow spot.
— from The Ancient Irish Epic Tale Táin Bó Cúalnge - They might, in most cases, either reduce him by famine, or tempt him by largesses, to surrender at discretion his judgment to their inclinations.
— from The Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton and John Jay and James Madison - No: she won’t talk about it either.
— from Mrs. Warren's Profession by Bernard Shaw - You haven't, any of you, the courage either to kill or to flog a man.
— from The Will to Power: An Attempted Transvaluation of All Values. Book III and IV by Nietzsche - Οὖν , a particle expressing either simple sequence or consequence; then, now then, Mat. 13.18.
— from A Greek-English Lexicon to the New Testament by William Greenfield - Either then our proposition is certain a priori or it contains nothing for belief.
— from Kant's Critique of Judgement by Immanuel Kant
