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Possible Duplicate:
'Each' with plural or singular verb

Is the use of have after each grammatical here?

Believe it or not, farther and further each have distinctly different meanings although people tend to use them interchangeably.

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Noah
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    In this sentence, I believe have refers to "farther and further", not "each", so the tense is correct. "Each" is an optional word in that helps accentuate the difference between the two similar words. – J.R. Jun 05 '12 at 10:00
  • @J.R.- If I say: Mike and Jim each has a car. Is has ungrammatical here? – Noah Jun 05 '12 at 10:06
  • @Noah Yes, that would be incorrect grammer. See my answer for explanation. – Dougvj Jun 05 '12 at 10:07
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    Hmm, I don't know if I can remember anyone thanking @RegDwight for closing their question before. +1 on the comment, for cordiality. – J.R. Jun 05 '12 at 10:18

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That is correct grammar. There are three forms of the word each:

  1. A pronoun:

    Each has distinctly different...

  2. An adjective:

    Each word has distinctly different...

  3. An adverb:

    The words each have distinctly different...

In this case, each is an adverb meaning "apart" or "apiece". The word could be replaced with the adverb separately and it would carry a nearly identical meaning:

... farther and further separately have distinctly different...

Therefore, the use of the verb form have is correct, since "farther and further" form the subject, which is plural.

RegDwigнt
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Dougvj
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  • What about the verb agreement of "each of ..."? For instance, is it a matter of personal choice, or is there a rule for the correct verb form in "Each of my three pens is/are green"? – HeWhoMustBeNamed Mar 15 '20 at 14:02