both
part of speech
determiner, pronoun (both, both of); conjunction (both … and)
meaning for a pupil
1) Both means the two of them together, not just one: both hands. tree →
2) «Both … and» joins two things that are true together: both tall and strong. tree →
3) (casual) «Both of yous» or «yous both» (Ireland, Australia, parts of UK) means «you two». tree →
4) (rough) «Both of you, out!» or «You're both as bad as each other» tells off two people together. tree →
5) (formal) The exam voice says «each of the two», «the pair», «jointly», «the two aforementioned». tree →
sense in the lessons
two things that act the same way, or two parts counted together («how many do they have both together?» = add); «both have 5 each» = 2 groups of 5; in everyday life «both of us», «use both hands», «both sides of the road», «look both ways»; in casual talk «yous both», in rough talk «both of you, shut it»; in the exam voice «jointly», «in combination», «each of the two pupils»
examples
- Thus he did to both of them in the two corners. (Torah EXO.36.29, JPS 1917) tree →
- Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father. (Torah GEN.19.36, JPS 1917) tree →
- Wherefore that place was called Beer-sheba; because there they swore both of them. (Torah GEN.21.31, JPS 1917) tree →
- Both low and high, rich and poor together. (Writings PSA.49.3, JPS 1917) tree →
- Both young men and maidens, old men and children; (Writings PSA.148.12, JPS 1917) tree →
- Who smote the first-born of Egypt, both of man and beast. (Writings PSA.135.8, JPS 1917) tree →
- «How many more … than» and «how many fewer … than» both ask for the difference: subtract. tree →
- Ana has 6 shells and Ben has 4. How many shells do they have both together? tree →
- Both boys have 5 cards each. tree →
- Hold the cup with both hands. tree →
- Both my parents work in a hospital. tree →
- She is both clever and kind. tree →
- Look both ways before you cross. tree →
- Both of the puppies are asleep. tree →
- Right, both of yous, in the car now! tree →
- You're both as bad as each other, stop fighting over 2 crisps. tree →
- Determine the number of shells held jointly by the two pupils, given that Ana holds 6 and Ben holds 4. tree →
- They both bent over the corpse. tree →
note
«both … together» asks for a total of two parts: add; «jointly» and «in combination» in an exam mean the same. Trap: «both have 5 each» is two equal groups: 2 × 5. «Both» always means exactly two; for more than two use «all». «yous» is a casual plural «you», common in Ireland and Australia, not standard in writing.
In the corpora
- And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
- Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.
- Wherefore that place was called Beer-sheba; because there they swore both of them.
- She said moreover unto him: 'We have both straw and provender enough, and room to lodge in.'
- And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen; and it was a very great company.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «both» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.