31
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Neither L nor S lives in either A or B, What is your inference regarding this sentence?
Let's start with pointing out that mathematics and formal logic are two things that do not apply to natural language in the sense that one can not follow clear rules to simply translate a statement in ...
- 36.7k
15
votes
Accepted
Neither L nor S lives in either A or B, What is your inference regarding this sentence?
In Standard English, even if a sentence is completely negative in sense, we apply negation only once, at the first possible place. So, for example, the following sentences all mean the same thing:
...
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9
votes
Neither L nor S lives in either A or B, What is your inference regarding this sentence?
Yes, "Neither Nor" and "Either or" can appear in the same sentence.
Your friend is correct.
The Neither L nor S prefix means that the rest of the sentence does not apply to (i.e. is not true for) L ...
- 301
9
votes
Does contemporary usage of "neither...nor..." for more than two options originate in the US?
I think it's not so much an Americanism as prescriptive grammar.
First, Americanism is not mentioned in the relevant sections of either A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language (Quirk, et al.) ...
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7
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Does contemporary usage of "neither...nor..." for more than two options originate in the US?
Despite being considered non-standard by the OED according to OP’s statement, it appears that the usage of either…or and neither…nor can extend to more than two items with the Bard himself and Dr. ...
- 7,199
6
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Why is neither singular, but none plural?
Contrary to what you're suggesting, I think there's definitely some logic to the traditional rule set forth in the posts you yourself have provided links to.
The traditional rule is:
Both neither and ...
- 7,314
5
votes
Accepted
Either or Neither in sentence with another negative
It is not true that nor can only occur in sentences that also involve neither. But this is still quite a different proposition from trying to pair it up as either..nor instead of as neither..nor.
...
- 137k
5
votes
'Nor WE are' and 'Nor ARE we'
Negation words at the beginning of a sentence entail Subject-Verb inversion:
In linguistics, negative inversion is one of many types of subject–auxiliary inversion in English. A negation (e.g. not, ...
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4
votes
Accepted
Without compromising on neither/either?
In standard English (of whichever part of the English speaking world), explicitly negative words and phrases such as no, none,never, nowhere, neither, and nor cannot be used within the scope of ...
- 77.9k
4
votes
Without compromising on neither/either?
If I have understood what your statement implies, rightly,
you should write it as-
Without compromising on either efficiency or accuracy.
Compromising neither on efficiency nor accuracy.
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3
votes
Why is neither singular, but none plural?
Conventions set by earlier grammarians set the logic here, to the extent there is much logic.
As John Lawler points out in a comment to this question, the grammatical number of a negative is ...
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3
votes
Accepted
Grammar -- Nor without Neither but with Non
Non necessarily
Is probably a typo, and should be
Not necessarily
Other than that, the sentence is fine, especially if you add a comma before "nor". You can use "nor" without &...
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3
votes
What is the possessive form of “neither”?
Your intuition has misled you. The possessive of neither is formed in the ordinary way. Here's a nice example:
Neither's opinion was expressed in public ; neither's was known to the other....
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3
votes
"Not... neither" or "not... nor"
'Nor' is the correct choice.
Your sentence (as is) requires negation and a coordinating conjunction. Both 'neither' and 'nor can provide the negation. However, only 'nor' is a coordinating ...
- 1,021
2
votes
Why is it "either . . . or" and "neither . . . nor"?
'Neither...nor' and 'either...or' are correlative conjunctions. These work in pairs to join words and groups of words of equal weight in a sentence.
Nor – presents a non-contrasting negative idea
Or – ...
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2
votes
Double negation: not, neither - nor in a sentence
Your two exact correct sentences are explained well on the Cambridge Dictionary website, which I found by using Google. It's a very good read, and I learnt some things from reading it despite English ...
- 283
2
votes
Accepted
Singular/Plural determiner
I think the answer you're after is the number (singular or plural) of a verb must agree with its subject. There is no grammatical requirement for the number of any objects of verbs to also agree.
- 1,432
2
votes
"Neither should we…" vs "We should neither…"
The "neither...nor..." construction is used to conjoin (or connect) two alternatives. Both of those sentences are correct in that sense.
In casual speech, "We should neither cut any trees nor burn ...
- 57
2
votes
Neither ...or/and..., nor ...or/and...
Frankly I think it sounds best with the word nor throughout.
To use "nor ... or" is inconsistent, and to use "nor ... and" will turn the meaning of the sentence into something completely different ...
- 2,857
2
votes
Does "does not achieve x and y" equal "achieve neither x nor y"?
From a logical perspective, the answer is no. They are not equivalent.
Does not achieve X and Y.
This statement is true if any of the following results occur:
Only X is achieved.
Only Y is ...
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2
votes
Correct usage of Neither, nor, not,
Sentence A is incorrect, sentence B is slightly off.
Nathan M is correct that "Neither X nor Y" and "Not X nor Y" are both legitimate structures. However, the sentence you present has a more dominant ...
- 1,137
2
votes
Accepted
History of Neither Nor - Negative Meaning with Negative Verb Structure
To answer your question, as far as we know, there was no time in history when
*Neither George nor James doesn't go to school.
meant the same thing in English as
Neither George nor James goes to ...
- 109k
2
votes
Accepted
Word usage: "either" or "both"?
1. Either the book and the pen are neither in the pocket nor in the backpack of either Sally or Peter.
That is incorrect. Either needs or as its correlative conjunction partner, and are should be is....
- 19.9k
2
votes
Accepted
Can you use "neither" instead of "nor" in this case?
I'd agree with @JohnLawler's comment
But neither is the normal use; but nor strikes me as novel, though I don't really know.
This is supported by a query to the Google ngram viewer, which shows that ...
- 641
2
votes
Accepted
Can I use "neither ... nor ..." like this?
You're using "nor" in two ways.
nor conjunction (Lexico)
1 Used before the second or further of two or more alternatives (the first being introduced by a negative such as “neither” or “not”)...
- 39k
2
votes
Subject-verb agreement in questions using neither-nor constructions
Quizlet is the only source I've been able to find endorsing the extension of the proximity rule to correlative conjunction constructions used as subjects in interrogative questions:
When either and ...
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1
vote
I will call somebody else, not neither him nor you
I will call somebody else, neither you nor him
is better; as you said, it avoids a double negative. Though it's worth noting, this isn't actually against the rules of grammar, it's just a style rule. ...
- 1,051
1
vote
Why is neither singular, but none plural?
According to Strunk & White's The Elements of Style:
With none, use the singular verb when the word means "no one" or "not one."
None of us is perfect.
A plural verb is ...
- 1,711
1
vote
Accepted
Can I omit the "neither" in a neither/nor construction?
The neither is required.
Neither ... nor acts as a negation which as you correctly note would otherwise require "did not" (past tense negation in English is a bit verbose).
You could also have ...
- 276
1
vote
Accepted
British English / a strange way of using neither nor
Standard Englishes don't allow negative polarity words (none, nowhere, never, neither) to be used with explicit negation (not, isn't).
So your sentence is not grammatical in any standard English. ...
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