American English – Either And vs. Either Or Explained

american-englishcommascorrelative-conjunctionslists

(1) In this question on math.SE a question about the meaning of 'either' before a list which ends with 'and'. The meaning of

either a, b, c, or d

is from this answer sort of clear in that it means a or b or c or d. Even if or can mean all included, the either seems to indicate an exclusivity. so exactly one of them. But what does

either a, b, c, and d

mean? Is this even current English?

(2) in the same question there is the question about what

any one of a, b, c, and d

means. So I would also like to know what

any one of a, b, c, or d

means?

Best Answer

Yes, you're right that the correlative conjunction either ... or ... is simply a summation of successive or's -- either ... or ... or ... or ..., with only the last or obligatory. Same thing without either, except that then it's not clear that this is disjunction with or, instead of conjunction with and (which is more common, and unmarked). But if you start the list with either you don't need to include and stress or all the time.

Either ... and ..., on the other hand, is simply wrong, and probably just a typo if written.

The answer to the second question is that

  • any one of a, b, c, and d is mathspeak for any (or some) member of the set [a, b, c, d]

while

  • any one of a, b, c, or d is not mathspeak, but simple enumeration, with "free-choice" any.
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