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Taka Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

one way or the other

0 01i00When a research worker sets out systematically to discover whether vitamin tablets, let us say, prevent your catching cold, it is no good his giving them to a group of people throughout the winter and asking them at the end whether they've had fewer colds than during the year before. Neither is it enough to give vitamins to half the people in a larger group and compare with the other half who are given nothing. 02br
00 Human imagination is such that some of the people receiving the pills will be affected 01font00one way or the other02font00 by the very fact that something is being done to them.02br
02br
02i00What exactly does 'one way or the other' mean here?02br
02br
00My book says it's 'either by catching a cold or not catching a cold'. Is it really so?0-
  

Top answer

0 01blockquote 01cite 10Taka12cite 10 11i 10When a research worker sets out systematically to discover whether vitamin tablets, let us say, prevent your catching cold, it is no good his giving them to a group of people throughout the winter and asking them at the end whether they've had fewer colds than during the year before. Neither is it enough to give vitamins to half the people in a larger group and compare with the other half who are given nothing. 12br 12br 10My book says it's 'either by catching a cold or not catching a cold'.

— Philip

  • 0 01blockquote 01cite 10Taka12cite 10 11i 10When a research worker sets out systematically to discover whether vitamin tablets, let us say, prevent your catching cold, it is no good his giving them to a group of people throughout the winter and asking them at the end whether they've had fewer colds than during the year before.
  • Neither is it enough to give vitamins to half the people in a larger group and compare with the other half who are given nothing.
  • 12br 12br 10My book says it's 'either by catching a cold or not catching a cold'.
  • 02font 02b 0-
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5 Answers
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Taka12cite10 11i10When a research worker sets out systematically to discover whether vitamin tablets, let us say, prevent your catching cold, it is no good his giving them to a group of people throughout the winter and asking them at the end whether they've had fewer colds than during the year before. Neither is it eno
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Philip12cite10 11b11font10They will suffer one [or more] of a number of possible reactions.12font12b12br
12blockquote
10Yes, that's how I read it. I thought it was something like 'people will be affected 01font00someh
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0'One way or the other' means the same as 'in some fashion' or 'somehow' or 'in some way'.02br
02br
00Stannum0-
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0 In AmE, the expressions "one way or the other" and "one way or another" can be used to mean exactly the same thing. 02br
02br
00However, if it is clear in the context of a sentence that you are specifically referring to only two possible choices (e.g. you must decide whether to do it this way or that way), then you should use "one way or the other".0-
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Yankee12cite10In AmE, the expressions "one way or the other" and "one way or another" can be used to mean exactly the same thing. 12br
12br
10However,10 if it is clear in the context of a sentence10 that you are specifically referring to only two possible choices (e.g. you must decide whether to do it
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