Either or Neither nor in English
Hi, just a quick video on Either or and Neither
nor, how to use them and plenty of example sentences.
Firstly pronunciation. They can be pronounced either or OR either or.
And likewise neither nor and neither nor. They represent a choice between 2 things that
are the same grammatical type, both adjectives, nouns, verbs, phrases, clauses
here are some examples: I’m not sure where’s Bruno is from. He’s
either Spanish or Italian. choice 1 is Spanish
choice 2 is Italian. Here it is a choice of 2 adjectives.
Or a choice between 2 nouns. I’ve saved some money to buy either a new
dress[choice 1] or [choice 2] a new coat. Or a choice between 2 verbs
Either apologise or leave. Choice one is apologise
choice 2 is leave. Or a choice between phrases:
You can stay either with me or with Janet. Or a choice between 2 clauses:
Either I drive to the airport or I get a taxi. Or even prefixes!
We can either pre- or post-date the document. I don’t mind.
As long as the 2 choices are the same grammatical type.
The opposite of either… or… is neither… nor…. We use it to make negative statements
connecting items: So here are some examples:
Neither Brian nor his wife mentioned anything about moving house. (Brian didn’t mention
that they were moving house and his wife didn’t mention that they were moving house.)
We got so wet. We had neither umbrellas nor raincoats with us!
Neither our families nor our friends know that we are getting married!
Neither Chris nor Pat came to the party. Tom said he would contact me, but he neither
wrote nor phoned. HOWEVER ...it can sound formal in speaking:
Neither Italy nor France got to the quarterfinals last year.
The less formal alternative is to use and … not … either:
Italy didn’t get to the quarterfinals last year and France didn’t either.
One little thing to remember for both either or and neither nor is that the subject that
is closest to the verb decides the form. So If the subject closest to the verb is singular,
use a singular verb. If the closest subject is plural, use a plural verb.
Either his mother or my sisters are singing in the pub tonight.
Here my sisters is closest to the verb so the verb is in the plural form.
Either my sisters or his mother is singing in the pub tonight.
here my mother is closest to the verb so it is in the singular form
and the same for neither nor Neither his mother nor my sisters are singing
in the pub tonight. Here my sisters is closest to the verb so
the verb is in the plural form. Neither my sisters nor his mother is singing
in the pub tonight. here my mother is closest to the verb so it
is in the singular form That’s it for now. I hope you feel more
comfortable using either or and neither nor in English now. Remember to like this video
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Bye for now and see you very soon!
Either or Neither nor in English