Either or Too?

Original Post: 9 April 2013
Posted Here: 1 December 2017

In my "One Potato, Two Potato" Chapter of The Centaurian Bud Vase, Pierre seems to have gone off without his two companions, Gareth and Carson. Gareth is more than a little disappointed and says, "...[A]t least he didn't take you either." Gareth was trying to soften his disappointment by noting that he wasn't the only one left behind.

At the meeting of my critique group, some members felt that I should have used too instead of either. When I looked up the use of either in WordWebPro and at an online grammar site PerfectYourEnglish.com my usage was found to be correct: either can be used to add emphasis to a negative statement. However, I wondered if it might be a regionalism of some sort. I grew up in Ohio, so could this format be something found more in the Midwest or the North (perhaps even in Canada, since WordWebPro is produced by a Canadian company)?

Here are some sentences which Gareth might have uttered, along with my interpretations. Again, perhaps my thoughts are influenced by my Midwestern upbringing.

1. "He left you." A positive statement of the facts.

2. "He left you too." Too emphasizes the positive statement and recognizes that both he and Carson had been left. In this sentence, either and too are clearly not interchangeable, because no one would ever say, "He left you either."

3. "He didn't take you." A negative statement of the facts.

4. "He didn't take you either." Either emphasizes the negative statement without showing concern for Carson's feelings. Gareth is more concerned about his own disappointment.

5. "He didn't take you too." Too emphasizes the negative statement and shows concern for Carson. Gareth is more inclusive of both their disappointments.

6. "At least he didn't take you." A negative statement emphasizing that Gareth approves of Carson's being left behind.

7. "At least he didn't take you either." (Gareth's actual statement.) Either emphasizes the negative statement and implies that maybe Gareth shouldn't feel so disappointed at being left behind. He shows no concern for Carson's feelings or that Carson had been left behind. The addition of either gives Sentence 6 a radically different meaning.

8. "At least he didn't take you too." Too emphasizes the negative statement, implies that someone else was taken, and that Gareth approves that Carson was not. Replacing either with too gives the Sentence 7 a completely different meaning, so again, the two words are not interchangeable.

I would concluded that either and too are not interchangeable, nor is too the preferable word to be used in the sentence expressing Gareth's feelings. Each gives a unique meaning to the sentence in which it is used. At least in my Midwestern drawl.

Keep reading/keep writing - Jack