Either/Or and Neither/Nor (Beware Double Negatives)
The pairings either/or and neither/nor can be used to group two people or things. (Although not a major grammatical error, the grouping of more than two things is frowned upon by followers of some style conventions.)
Examples:
- I could neither laugh nor cry. ✔︎
- Either the clerk or the secretary has the keys to the Rover. ✔︎
(Using has is correct. Using have would be wrong.)
- The clerk or the secretary has the keys to the Rover. ✔︎
(You can often omit the word either.)
- He did not find the key either on or under the mat. ✔︎
- Neither the forwards nor the scrum-half, all of whom were within 10 metres of the tackle, nor the crowd appealed for a foul. ✖︎
(It is quite harsh to mark this as wrong, but grouping three things is an unpopular style that is likely to irk your readers.)
Beware Double Negative
The pairing neither/nor plays a negative role in the sentence. Be careful not to use a double negative.
- He did not mention neither the flooding nor the landslide. ✖︎
(This is a double negative.)
- He mentioned neither the flooding nor the landslide. ✔︎
- He did not mention either the flooding or the landslide. ✔︎
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AGH / Jan 2020