Each Other & One Another
Level A2 · Pronouns & Possessives
each other and one another are reciprocal pronouns: they describe an action that two or more people do to or for each other, where each person is both doing the action and receiving it. Tom and Ana love each other means Tom loves Ana AND Ana loves Tom — a single reflexive pronoun (himself/herself) would say something completely different: Tom loves himself only describes Tom's feelings about Tom.
How to build and use reciprocal pronouns:
- each other and one another are used the same way in modern English — no strict difference, though each other is more common: We help each other / We help one another.
- They replace a repeated pair of subjects+objects describing a mutual action: instead of Tom looks at Ana and Ana looks at Tom, say Tom and Ana look at each other.
- They can take a possessive form with 's: They borrowed each other's books (each person borrowed the other's book).
- The subject must be plural (or two+ people/things named together) — you can't use each other with a single subject: They know each other well; not She knows each other.
The most common mistake is confusing each other/one another with reflexive pronouns (myself, himself, themselves) — Tom and Ana blamed themselves means each blamed only their own self, while Tom and Ana blamed each other means Tom blamed Ana and Ana blamed Tom. A second mistake is dropping the 's for possession — they respected each other opinions is wrong; it must be each other's opinions.
Look for a plural subject (or two named people) performing an action that goes both ways — hug, help, know, understand, look at, talk to are common verbs. If the sentence describes a mutual, two-way action between the people named in the subject, each other or one another is correct; if it describes each person acting only on themselves, use a reflexive pronoun instead.