Test Your Grammar Knowledge: “Each”

The word each is pretty common. It didn’t make the list of the 101 most used words in English, but it’s the kind of word we use all the time–and hear all the time–without ever wondering what it means. It’s just not a word anyone looks up very often.

But what kind of word is it exactly? Here’s a quick test of your basic grammar knowledge. Grammar is all about figuring out what words are doing in a sentence–the role they play in the creating of meaning. There are eight parts of speech: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, conjunction, preposition, and  interjection. Can you identify the part of speech of each in the following three sentences? (Hint: it’s different in each sentence)

1. When sentencing the bank robbers, Judge Gloom gave each his just punishment.

2. Stanley gladly gave each beauty contestant a congratulatory kiss.

3. At Eddie’s House O’ Grub, you can buy frogs legs for fifty-cents each.

Extra Credit: The chimps hunted for lice on each other.

I’ll post the correct answers all the way at the bottom. Post a comment about  how you did!

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Answers:

1. “Each” is a pronoun here. It’s the object of the verb “gave.”
2. This time, “each” is an adjective. It is modifying the noun “contestant.”
3. When we use “each” this way–a synonym for “apiece”–it’s an adverb. Here it’s modifying the verb “can buy.”

Extra Credit: This is a bit of a trick because “each other” is actually a single, compound pronoun. “Each” may appear to be an adjective modifying “other,” but the two words in this usage are actually inseparable and have a distinct definition as a compound. If you said “adjective,” good job–you are thinking. But, sorry, no extra credit.