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He sat in the back of the car with a policeman on either side.

-Longman Dictionary-

Unfortunately I was sitting at the table with smokers on either side of me.

-Cambridge Dictionary-

They both describe two people sitting on either side. But why does Longman use singular and cambridge plural?

Professor McGonagall opened the classroom door at that moment, which was perhaps lucky; Hermione and Ron were looking daggers at each other, and when they got into class, they seated themselves either side of Harry, and didn’t talk to each other all lesson.

-Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban-

They seated themselves (Ron and Hermione) either side of Harry. Why is it plural (themselves) here? Does it mean they sit on the left of Harry at the same time they sit on the right of Harry.

Biet
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They do not both describe exactly two people sitting beside you. They both describe what is sitting on your left and right, in one case it's one thing and in the other it's many.

The first case means there is "a policeman" on both your left and right - there are exactly two policemen.

The second case means there are "smokers" on both your left and right - there are probably at least four smokers, and maybe more. This could also be used in the case where you haven't really counted how many there are.

Nuclear Hoagie
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  • Thank you, but I add one more example... Could you read that please. I think "they seated themselves either side of Harry" is a little bit weird to me. Like the above examples, Ron, Hermione on left and Ron, Hermione on right. – Biet Feb 08 '24 at 16:58
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    Since Ron and Hermione are two people, it's clear that one sat on each side. I don't agree with Nuclear Hoagie that there have to be more than two smokers present, but the plural means that there could be. – Kate Bunting Feb 08 '24 at 17:56
  • It's tiresome when edits to Question text leave "orphanned" references in Answers. But I've just checked the edit history to find the example Unfortunately I was sitting at the table with smokers on either side of me. And I agree with @KateBunting that there are "smokers" on both your left and right - there are probably at least four smokers, and maybe more is an unjustified assumption. Per my comment under the question, ...with policemen on both sides / either side is ambiguous - there could be 1 or more policemen on either side (including, say, 1 on the left and 100 on the right! :) – FumbleFingers Feb 08 '24 at 18:29