Respective/Respectively

Question

Are these sentences gramatically correct?

1. I gave my souvenirs to John and Mary, respectively.

2. I gave my respective souvenirs to John and Mary.

3. John and Mary gave their souvenirs to me, respectively.

4. John and Mary gave their respective souvenirs to me.

RayH · Accepted Answer

SnappyAre these sentences gramatically correct?

They are grammatically correct but I'm uncomfortable with your use of "respective" and "respectively."

Here is the definition:

In a relative manner; often used when comparing lists, where the term denotes that the items in the lists correspond to each other in the order they are given.

And some examples:

Serena Williams and Roger Federer won the women's and men's singles titles, respectively, at the 2008 U.S. Open.
Mary and Anne were respectively 12 and 16 years old.

Your sentences don't follow this pattern. Number 1 can be modified as follows:
I gave my souvenirs from Chicago and New York to John and Mary, respectively.

I don't think 2 through 4 can be made to work at all with "respective/respectively."

Snappy · Answer

RayH
SnappyAre these sentences gramatically correct?

They are grammatically correct but I'm uncomfortable with your use of "respective" and "respectively."

Here is the definition:

In a relative manner; often used when comparing lists, where the term denotes that the items in the lists correspond to each other in the order they are given.

And some examples:

Serena Williams and Roger Federer won the women's and men's singles titles, respectively, at the 2008 U.S. Open.

Mary and Anne were respectively 12 and 16 years old.

Your sentences don't follow this pattern. Number 1 can be modified as follows:

I gave my souvenirs from Chicago and New York to John and Mary, respectively.

I don't think 2 through 4 can be made to work at all with "respective/respectively."

Oh, okay. I can use "respectively" in the following case, right?

Change trains at AAA (*a station name) and BBB (* another station name) for CCC (a destination) and DDD (another destination), respectively.

RayH · Answer

SnappyOh, okay. I can use "respectively" in the following case, right?
Change trains at AAA (*a station name) and BBB (* another station name) for CCC (a destination) and DDD (another destination), respectively.

You can.

One point I neglected to mention in my original answer: It's fairly common to say something like, "Joe and Fred are world class experts in their respective fields of study." This is done to make it clear that they have different fields of study.

So, strictly speaking, in your original post this: "John and Mary gave their respective souvenirs to me." would be correct but since a case where John would give you Mary's souvenirs and vice versa would be highly contrived using "respective" is redundant and confusing, thus my initial (and continuing) discomfort with it.

Snappy · Answer

RayH
SnappyOh, okay. I can use "respectively" in the following case, right?
Change trains at AAA (*a station name) and BBB (* another station name) for CCC (a destination) and DDD (another destination), respectively.

You can.

One point I neglected to mention in my original answer: It's fairly common to say something like, "Joe and Fred are world class experts in their respective fields of study." This is done to make it clear that they have different fields of study.

So, strictly speaking, in your original post this: "John and Mary gave their respective souvenirs to me." would be correct but since a case where John would give you Mary's souvenirs and vice versa would be highly contrived using "respective" is redundant and confusing, thus my initial (and continuing) discomfort with it.

Thank you.

I can think of the following sentence patterns that may involve "respectively."

Pattern 1: A does something and something to/for B and C, respectively. (e.g., I gave some oranges and apples to Tom and Bill, respectively. = I gave Tom some oranges to and gave Bill some apples.)

It's obvious that this pattern is OK.

Pattern 2: A does something to/for B and C, respectively. (e.g., I bought some oranges for Tom and Bill, respectively. = I bought Tom and Bill some oranges.)

This usage of respectively is meaningless so I won't use this.

Pattern 3: A and B do something and something to/for C and D, respectively. (e.g., Tom and Bill gave some oranges and apples to Ann and Susan, respectively. = Tom gave Ann some oranges and Bill gave Susan some apples.)

This pattern may be grammatically OK, but doesn't it sound clumsy?

Pattern 4: A and B do something and something to/for C, respectively. (e.g., Tom and Bill bought some oranges and apples for Ann, respectively. = Tom bought Ann some oranges and Bill bought Ann some apples.)

Is this pattern acceptable to native speakers of English? Is it acceptable if I say, "Tom and Bill bought some oranges and apples, respectively, for Ann."?

Pattern 5: A and B do something to/for C, respectively. (e.g., Tom and Bill sent some flowers to Ann, respectively. = Tom sent Ann some flowers and Bill sent Ann some flowers, too, but they did not jointly send the flowers.)

This pattern is clumsy so I won't use this.

Pattern 6: A and B do something to/for C and D, respectively. (e.g., Tom and Bill bought some books for Ann and Susan, respectively = Tom bought Ann some books and Bill bought Susan some books.)

Is this pattern acceptable to native speakers of English?

Snappy · Answer

RayHSo, strictly speaking, in your original post this: "John and Mary gave their respective souvenirs to me." would be correct but since a case where John would give you Mary's souvenirs and vice versa would be highly contrived using "respective" is redundant and confusing, thus my initial (and continuing) discomfort with it.

Is it possible to say, "John and Mary gave their respective souvenirs to me" if John gave me his souvenir and Mary gave me her souvenir but they did not buy the souvenir jointly (e.g., John returned from Paris and Mary returned from London)?

Respective/Respectively

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