Re: Losing languages ...

Mark J. Reed scripsit:

> Ditto here.  In my case, I only use "the both" when both = all; that is,
> there are only two, and I talked to all two of them.   Whereas I could
> use "both" without "the" even if it was an incomplete set:
>
> "Two of the three candidates are here, and I've interviewed both of them."
That's because the first clause narrows the scope of "candidates" for the
second clause.  AFAICT, "both" *always* means "all two"; you can't say
"*I saw both of the three candidates."

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