Question

Fill in the blank with the suitable pronoun.
Which dress do you want? ____ dress will do, they are both good.
(a)Either
(b)Either of
(c)Neither
(d)Neither of

Answer 1

Hint: Pronouns are words that are used in place of nouns to avoid repetition of nouns. Distributive pronouns are those pronouns which indicate people or things one at a time.

Complete answer: As given in the hint, distributive pronouns help in denoting people or things in a separate category.

Let’s look at the usage of different distributive pronouns-
(1)Either- ‘Either’ is a distributive pronoun that is used to indicate a choice between two people or things. It is used with singular nouns. For example- Either he will lose or win.
(2)Either of- ‘Either of’ is a distributive pronoun that is used to indicate a choice between two things or people. It is used with plural nouns. For example- Give me either of the pens.
(3)Neither- ‘Neither’ is a distributive pronoun that is used to indicate a negative statement about two people or things. It is used with singular nouns. For example- The girl is neither intelligent nor pretty.
(4)Neither of- ‘Neither of’ is a distributive pronoun that is used to indicate negative sentences about two people or things. It is used with plural nouns. For example- Neither of the two boys are wise.

Now, let’s look at the given options-
(a)‘Either’ is the correct option because it is used to indicate a choice between two singular nouns.
(b)‘Either of’ is an incorrect option because it is used to indicate a choice between two plural nouns.
(c)‘Neither’ is an incorrect option because it is used to indicate a negative sentence about two singular nouns.
(d)‘Neither of’ is an incorrect option because it is used to indicate a negative sentence about two plural nouns.
In the given question- We can conclude that either dress will do, they are both good. Here, we have used ‘either’ to show a choice between two singular nouns.

Note: Keep in mind, distributive pronouns are followed by singular verbs and nouns. Also, ‘either’ should only be used when we are indicating two people or things.