In modern English, each other and one another are used in the same way. One another is preferred in cases where we are making general statements.
They no longer talk to each other / one another.
Both expressions have possessive forms: each other’s / one another’s.
They sat for hours listening to each other’s / one another’s tales.
Grammar notes
Each other is not used with words like meet, marry and similar.
- They met at a pub. (NOT They met each other at a pub.)
- They married in 2001. (NOT They married each other in 2001.)
Themselves, each other / one another
There is a difference between themselves and each other / one another.
Compare:
- They love themselves a lot. (= Each of them loves himself or herself.)
- They love each other a lot. (=Each of them loves the other.)
Correct use of only
The adverb only should be placed immediately before the word it modifies. Study the following sentence. Note the change in the meaning according to the change in the position of only.
- Only Alice helped me to write the book. (= Only Alice and no one else helped me to write the book.)
- Alice only helped me to write the book. (= Alice helped me to write the book, but she didn’t actually write it herself.)
- Only John could solve the problem. (= Only John and no one else could solve the problem.)
- John could only solve the problem. (= John could solve the problem, but couldn’t do anything else.)
