Timeline for Can "neither" be a conjunction by itself?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
13 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 21, 2022 at 12:39 | vote | accept | Alex Frt | ||
| Feb 21, 2022 at 12:39 | vote | accept | Alex Frt | ||
| Feb 21, 2022 at 12:39 | |||||
| Jan 31, 2022 at 19:33 | comment | added | Ben Bolker | @AlexFrt, I think this is the best I can do for now. | |
| Jan 28, 2022 at 19:31 | comment | added | Alex Frt | My actual intention is to know whether "neither" can be used after a comma by itself as in the sentence rather than knowing whether it's a conjunction or an additive subjunct or an adverb operating as a connective adjunct. And also I'd like to know how often it's used in general and in America compared with UK. | |
| Jan 28, 2022 at 19:26 | comment | added | Ben Bolker | That's fine. I think you're operating at a different level from the OP, but I would be happy to see a more technical answer. | |
| Jan 28, 2022 at 19:20 | comment | added | Edwin Ashworth | ELU is aimed at linguists and serious (not basic-level) students of the language. Dictionaries, when they give different POSs from respected grammars, are reckoned to be incorrect. | |
| Jan 28, 2022 at 17:56 | comment | added | Ben Bolker | Quirk, Huddleston & Pullum are a little over my head. My guess would be that LDoCE is being less precise than a real grammarian would be ("specifically designed for learners and teachers of English, and for people who need to use English as a second language at work"; not necessarily users who would appreciate the difference between a conjunction and additive subjunct ...) Feel free to post an alternative answer ... | |
| Jan 28, 2022 at 17:19 | comment | added | Edwin Ashworth | '... a particular reason to doubt the reliability of the source ... quoted (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English)'. Here are two: Quirk et al class this usage of neither as an additive subjunct and Huddleston & Pullum classify it as an adverb operating as a connective adjunct. | |
| Jan 28, 2022 at 2:06 | comment | added | MarcInManhattan | @BenBolker Yeah, I don't know how to do that either, unfortunately. | |
| Jan 28, 2022 at 2:05 | comment | added | Ben Bolker | @MarcInManhattan, I agree. I can use wild cards to represent a word and can insert parts of speech, but I'm not sure how to properly restrict the search to the usage that OP is looking for. (I don't think I can search for "not [1 or more words], neither"; "not * *, neither brings up for example "While the girls' troubles are not downplayed , neither are their courage" | |
| Jan 28, 2022 at 1:49 | comment | added | MarcInManhattan | I'm not sure that "used following a comma" operationalizes OP's "used like this". For example: "On Monday, neither Bob nor Mary showed up to work." "Neither" follows a comma but is not "a conjunction by itself" (as OP means). | |
| Jan 28, 2022 at 1:02 | comment | added | Vegawatcher | I agree. The usage is fine, if slightly formal or elevated in tone. You could also replace "neither" with "nor." Using the absolute best wording and writing for the old New York times, I would say: "The authorities were neither sympathetic to the students' demands nor tolerant of any disruption. | |
| Jan 27, 2022 at 23:01 | history | answered | Ben Bolker | CC BY-SA 4.0 |