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正月は家ごとに門松を立てる。

For example, could I say

正月はそれぞれの家に門松をたてる。

If so, the meaning remains the same, or are there any subtle nuances that comes with each word? It seems to me, whenever i see sentences with either words, that sometimes they can be interchangeable and sometimes it just seems weird replacing one with the another. More specifically, some sentences with ごとに could be rewritten using the pattern それぞれの (which in this case acts as a pronoun), for example:

木村さんは会う人ごとに挨拶している。 -> 木村さんはそれぞれの会う人に挨拶している。 Is the second sentence above by any chance correct?

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For the first one, it is correct, except that it sounds like a single person went around and did it. To avoid that, you can change it to

正月はそれぞれの家が門松を立てる。

The second one can also be rewritten, but yours is wrong. You should do it as

木村さんは会う人それぞれに挨拶している。

Note that Xごと means "every X", and you cannot always change it to それぞれ.

5メートルごとに門松を立てる。

cannot be rewritten using それぞれ.

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    At first I didn't get why you changed the particle for が, but after further inspection I think i get it: Is it because with に, it sounds like someone who is a outsider is walking and putting the trees at each house, and with が, it sounds like each family is responsible for putting the tree on your own house? Commented Jun 26, 2012 at 1:58
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    Why is それぞれの家 fine but それぞれの合う人 not?
    – Flaw
    Commented Jun 26, 2012 at 2:00
  • @Rodrigo That is right. が makes it the subject. 家 is used metaphorically like a person.
    – user458
    Commented Jun 26, 2012 at 2:14
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    @Flaw It is unnatural to modify from outside of a relative clause.
    – user458
    Commented Jun 26, 2012 at 2:16
  • sorry that just got me confused. why for example the sentence ハウルの動く城 (Howl's moving castle) is correct? the pattern seems similar... Commented Jun 27, 2012 at 4:04

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