Usage Note: Both indicates that the action or state denoted by the verb applies individually to each of two entities. Both books weigh more than five pounds, for example, means that each book weighs more than five pounds by itself, not that the two books weighed together come to more than five pounds. Both is inappropriate where the verb does not apply to each of the entities by itself. · In possessive constructions, of both is usually preferred in standard usage: the mothers of both (rather than both their mothers); the fault of both (rather than both their fault or both's fault). · When both is used with and to link parallel elements in a sentence, the words or phrases that follow them should correspond grammatically: in both India and China or both in India and in China (not both in India and China).