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I'm aware that the meaning of either can be:

  • Any of two options
  • Both the options

It depends from the context ...

This is the context, an official rule from the UK government:

When you arrive at the UK border you’ll need to show either:

  • a printed copy of the document attached to your confirmation email
  • the document attached to the confirmation email on your phone

Now, should I have with me BOTH the documents or just ONE ?

What is the (English grammar) rule here to identify if either means any or both?

[Update]
I read the answers in "can either mean both any and both" but I was still not sure because:

  • the usage here is not "Either OF these options".
  • The "both" meaning is an historical/old usage doesn't really matter.
  • Google translator translates the phrase in Italian using "entrambi", that means BOTH, without any ambiguity!
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  • In this case it looks like they are 2 different forms of the same document. The original is in point form, and "or" is omitted, so I think they would only look at one of them. However I would carry both in case of problems, eg water on paper, flat phone battery etc.
    – Peter
    Commented Aug 31, 2020 at 10:06
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    It clearly means you need to show one of them. It does not exclude the possibility of you choosing to show both, but it does not require both to be shown to meet the criteria. I can't think of any usage of the word "either" where the meaning would be "each and every" - the word either inherently introduces some list of alternatives.
    – Steve
    Commented Aug 31, 2020 at 10:49

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Either does not mean both when it expresses an alternative. The required conjunction is or, never and.

Thus you need to provide one or the other; this is confirmed by the context, which is the requirement to show a QR code. Each form of the document has that, and you only need one form of the document to satisfy the requirement. The government's web page would certainly be improved by adding an or to the first alternative. However, to put and there would not make sense at all.

Either in "It could be on either side of the street" does express an alternative: it's assumed that of two possibilities, only one will apply. That doesn't mean "It could be on each side of the street," it means "It could on either this side of the street or that side." You can't say "It could be on this side and that side" when only one is possible.

Either in "There are shops down either side of the street" does not express an alternative: it actually has the same meaning as each side and does indicate that both sides of the sides of the street have shops. But that meaning is only possible because there is no either/or alternative.

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  • There is no use of "or" and I can read that 2 options as: - Action A - Action B. In that case would have really impossible to "decide" if both the element were needed. I say this because I had to read it again and again (after navigating through many documents) to understand the 2 options have the same "document attached to your confirmed email" subject (it is just the format that change). Anyway in absence of a precise grammar rule, this seems the only way. Thanks.
    – Alex 75
    Commented Aug 31, 2020 at 13:47
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The rule is poorly expressed according to conventional usage of either, which refers to two (or occasionally more) choices. One thing is clear from dictionary searches: either does not mean and.

The rule would be clearer if "... show either" were replaced by "... show either of". Alternatively, " ... show either A or B" (For brevity, I term the two choices A and B). Perhaps the writers felt that the bulleting of the choices relieved them from normal grammatical convention.

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