Quote:
Could you please help me explain more the usage of "each other", "another" and "the other" in this official question?
Among the Tsonga, a Bantu-speaking group of tribes in southeastern Africa, dance teams represent their own chief at the court of each other, providing entertainment in return for food, drink, and lodging.
(A) the court of each other, providing entertainment in return for
(B) the court of another and provide entertainment in return for
(C) the court of the other, so as to provide entertainment as a return on
I have read the
OG explanation, as well as explanation for this question from this thread
https://gmatclub.com/forum/among-the-ts ... 41546.html but I'm not quite sure whether I understand exactly their difference.
Here is what I think:
1. There are only 2 definite objects or people in a group. If 1 object is already mentioned, "the other" will be used to refer to the second object. On the other hand, when there are more than 2 objects, "another" will be used to refer to any other objects in this group.
2. "each other" is used when there are at least 2 objects or people in a group.
For example:
My friend, Nicole and I exchanged gifts with each other last Christmas
Our group exchanged gifts with each other last Christmas
However, I can't distinguish between the usage of "each other" and "another" because it seems to me that "another" can be used to replace "each other" in "our group" example above
Please correct me. Thank you very much!
Ooh, good question,
Samine. I'm not sure that you’ll ever see this particular issue again in an actual GMAT question, but it’s oddly interesting. My first instinct was that your explanations were spot-on, and it took me a while to figure out what was missing.
You’re right that the term “each other” would be used when there are at least 2 objects or people in a group. But the thing you’re missing is that “each other” suggests that everybody in the group is performing the same, reciprocal action. Using your examples:
“My friend, Nicole and I exchanged gifts with each other last Christmas.” – You and Nicole BOTH perform the action of exchanging gifts.
“[Everybody in] our group exchanged gifts with each other last Christmas.” – EVERYBODY in the group performs the action of exchanging gifts.
Back to answer choice (A) from the
OG question:
Quote:
Among the Tsonga, a Bantu-speaking group of tribes in southeastern Africa, dance teams represent their own chief at the court of each other, providing entertainment in return for food, drink, and lodging.
(A) the court of each other, providing entertainment in return for
(B) the court of another and provide entertainment in return for
(C) the court of the other, so as to provide entertainment as a return on
(A) doesn’t quite make sense. “Each other” has to refer to “dance teams”, right? So then the sentence seems to say that dance teams represent their own chief at the court of other
dance teams. And that’s pretty weird: have you ever heard of a dance team with its own royal court?
(Speaking as a veteran of quite a few dance companies: we were lucky if the dance company had its own dressing room, let alone a royal court. Once, I had to change costumes 17 times during a single show – and had to do the costume changes in a hallway. I am not making this up. There were also some very interesting wardrobe malfunctions on opening night, but you really don't want to hear about my accidental moments of near-nudity in front of live audiences…)
Anyway, (B) seems clearer: “another” can now refer to a chief, instead of a dance team. So now that makes sense: “dance teams represent their own chief at the court of
another chief.” Nice.
And (C) is odd, too: “the other” suggests that there’s only one other chief, or one other dance team. Neither of those quite work: “dance teams represent their own chief at the court of
the other chief…”? Which other chief? Or if it’s “dance teams represent their own chief at the court of
the other dance team”, that’s still weird: which other dance team are we talking about?
So for that reason, (B) seems to be the best of the three.
I hope this helps!
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