Hi guys, I'm Arnel, and today we're going to look at Either, Neither and Both.
First things first. We're going to look at the pronunciation. There are two different ways you can pronounce these words.
"either"
"neither" Both ways are perfectly correct. Is one more
American, is one more British? Not really.I've heard people use both, so you can choose.
I'm American and I personally use "either" and "neither". Okay, I'm gonna begin with a general difference between
EITHER NEITHER and BOTH, but don't worry I'll get more specific as the lesson continues.
When we think of these words, we're always thinking about the number 2. 2, 2, and 2.
EITHER - I have two choices, I can only pick one. NEITHER - I have two choices, I can pick
0. BOTH - I have two choices, I can pick 2. Two of them. Which shirt do you want?
Either. Which shirt do you want? Neither, no thank you.
Which shirt do you want? Both, I want both. Okay good.
Keep this basic concept in mind throughout the lesson. Let's keep going...
EITHER..OR /NEITHER..NOR. These are set combinations. Okay, I need a new tablet. Let's do some shopping.
Ooo
I can buy either the 7-inch tablet or the 10-inch tablet.
Sold out? sold out? 'Sold out' means no more, all gone.
I can buy neither the 7-inch tablet nor the 10-inch tablet. I think Tiffany is
either French or Belgian. Actually she's neither French nor Belgian. She's Canadian!
He can either pay in person or pay online. Sorry , he can neither pay in person nor pay online.
You can see, I have my 'either or' structure, and my 'neither nor' structure.
adjective adjective, verb verb. When you use 'either or' 'neither nor' you really want to
balance that grammar. Remember my first example? Noun plus noun - 7-inch tablet and 10-inch tablet .
You also don't want to have a double negative. For example
"He can't neither pay person nor pay online." You definitely do not want to use that. Okay,
'either or' is very common and very natural, but in spoken English, 'neither nor'
is not very common and is actually quite formal. We can say other things to express the negative.
Okay. She's not French or Belgian. She's not French and she's not Belgian either. He can't pay online
or pay in person. Can we say ..and he can't pay online neither?
That would be a double negative. Let's keep going and this time without 'or' and without 'nor'.
either plus singular noun neither plus singular noun
both plus plural noun. Teacher: Can we have our next lesson on the 15th or the 16th?
Student: um, either day is okay with me. You pick.
Neither day is possible for me. Could you do the 19th? either plus singular, neither plus singular.
If the student wanted to book a lesson on the 15th and the 16th,
he or she could say something like: Could we have a lesson on both days? both plus plural noun.
But there's one little exception. When we use either with the noun 'side', we often mean
BOTH. I have a river, a street and seats on an airplane.
There are cycle lanes on either side of the river. This means both sides of the river.
Houses were built on either side of the street - both sides. I love this...
The seats on either side of me were empty. You can see here, 'either' side does mean
both sides. Just keep that in mind okay. What happens to these structures when we add OF?
The grammar changes, of course it does! either of, neither of , both of plus plural pronoun.
I'm waiting for William and Louis. Has either of them called?
No, neither of them has called.
um yeah, actually both of them have called and they're going to be 20 minutes late.
Why am I using HAS? HAS either of them neither of them HAS called. Why am I using a singular verb?
Louis and William, that's two people. Either of and neither of take a singular verb.
Even though I'm speaking about two people, using HAS is correct. But many native speakers do
use a plural verb. Have either of them called? Neither of them have called. So, just so you know,
don't be surprised if you hear a singular or plural verb with either of and neither of.
Okay, so far we've looked at 'either or' 'neither nor' 'either plus singular noun' 'neither plus
singular noun' 'both plus plural noun' 'either of, neither of, both of plus pronoun'. Let's keep going.
Okay, we've already added OF to the structure. Let's make it a little bit longer. Either neither of plus
determiner plus plural noun. What's a determiner? A determiner gives a noun a bit more information.
With either neither, we often use the determiners - my your his her it's our their these those the.
Hey Arnel, I wrote two resumes. Can you tell me which one you think is better?
Sure. Wow these look great. You can use either of your resumes. This one looks good, and that one
looks good. Actually both of your resumes look good. Either of, both of plus determiner plus plural noun.
Hey Arnel, I wrote two resumes. Can you tell me which one you think is better? Sure Oh okay...
What? Did you use a pen? Let me look at the other one.
What? Your email address, your email address is
Big Bad Unicorn? Really? Neither of your resumes look good. No! Neither of plus determiner plus plural noun.
Sometimes we like to be really lazy. We can use 'either neither and both' without anything.
Hey Arnel! Do you want to watch a comedy or a drama? "either"
"Neither".
"Both". You guys are doing a really good job. I know there's a lot of information, but there's one last thing we need to look at.
We can use 'either and neither' to agree with a negative statement. What about positive statements?
Today we're specifically focusing on either and neither. Yes there are different ways you
can agree with a positive statement, but today I;m going to stick with either and
neither. That means we're looking at negative statements. I didn't sleep well last night.
Neither did I. Neither, same auxiliary, same auxiliary, same auxiliary plus subject. I didn't
either. Both are fine, but 'Neither did I.' is a little bit more formal.
I can't drive. Neither can I. Neither, same auxiliary, subject. I can't either.
You want to know what's really natural? Me Neither. I didn't sleep well last night. Me neither.
Me either. I can't drive. Me neither. Me either.
I know it's strange, but all of these mean the same thing. And actually, 'Me
either' is not correct grammar. I mean some people really do not like 'Me either'. I mean -
I didn't sleep well last night. Me either.
That was dramatic, but I just want you to know that 'Me either' is very common in spoken English,
especially American spoken English, but it's not correct. You'll definitely hear it. Arnel, I don't
want this video to end. Neither do I / I don't either / Me neither / Me either. But if you subscribe to my
channel and turn on those notifications you won't ever miss a lesson. So I hope today was helpful.
Leave me a comment down below, and I can't wait to see you soon. Thank you. Bye!