EACH x EVERY

Each indicates two or more items, whereas every indicates three or

more items. When three or more items are involved, we tend to use
each when we are thinking of the items individually and every when
we are thinking of them collectively.

The difference between "each" and

"every"
We have a flock of eight chickens at my house. Each hen has her own personality and lays
discernably different eggs, and my kids can recognize each of their feathered friends by
name.

 Wait ... each hen has her own personality, or every hen does? Let’s take an in-depth look at
these two words to find out whether it makes a difference.

Each and every are both used with singular nouns to indicate quantity. Each indicates two or

more items, whereas every indicates three or more items. When three or more items are
involved, we tend to use each when we are thinking of the items individually and every when
we are thinking of them collectively. Here are some examples:

Correct: She had paint on each leg.

Incorrect: She had paint on every leg. (That is, unless "she" is, say, an octopus or other
more-than-two-legged animal.)

Correct: My parents are arriving tomorrow, and each of them will be on a different plane.

Incorrect: My parents are arriving tomorrow, and every one of them will be on a different
plane.

However, both of the following could be correct depending on the context:

We asked every author to submit a cover suggestion. (Perhaps one mass email was sent
to all authors.)

We asked each author to submit a cover suggestion. (Perhaps each author received a

separate, personal request.)

The difference can be subtle. Here are some more examples:

Correct: I've read every article published in Cell in the last 15 years.

Correct: You suggested I begin reading Current Biology articles. Well, I'm going to study each
of them carefully.

When adverbs such as almost, nearly, and practically are involved, every is necessary:

Practically every person in the room had at some point submitted a paper on

theoretical physics.

The journal had rejected almost every one of them.

What was impressive was that any were accepted at all; nearly every attendee was
under 15.

Every and each can both act as adjectives, but only each can be a pronoun. Thus, each is the

appropriate choice in these sentences:

They each thought their work should have made them shoe-ins for the Nobel prize.

She gave them each a little perspective.

If you want to use every in a similar way, the pronoun one must be involved so that every acts
as an adjective that modifies one. For example:

Every one of the several thousand conference attendees purchased a personal print
and online subscription to each Cell Press journal.

The director of operations was ecstatic about every one of them.

And now back to our original question. Should it be "each hen has her own personality" or
"every hen has her own personality"? Each implies that I’m thinking of my specific flock of
chickens and considering each hen individually, whereas every implies that I’m thinking of
chickens more broadly and not necessarily about my own specific birds. Nonetheless, it’s a
subtle difference, and each choice would be acceptable.

Each or every?
We use each to refer to individual things in a group or a list of two or more things. It is
often similar in meaning to every, but we use every to refer to a group or list of three or
more things.
Compare

Each one takes turns cooking dinner in the Each stresses individual members of a group.
evenings. Each refers to two or more people who share
the work.

Everyone takes turns cooking dinner in the Every stresses all the members of the complete
evenings. group.
Every refers to three or more people.

We use adverbs such as almost, practically and nearly with every, but not with each:

Almost every car in the car park was new.
Not: Almost each car …
Practically every house now has at least two televisions.
Not: Practically each house …
We can use each of + pronoun or each of + determiner + noun, but with every we must
use every one + pronoun or every one + determiner + noun:
Each of us has a bicycle.
Every one of us has a bicycle.
Not: Every of us …
Each of the children received a special gift.
Every one of the children received a special gift.
Not: Every of the children …