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Making a choice: Either...or/ Neither ...nor...

Making a choice in life, isn't always an easy task... but expressing a choice in English is very easy, if you remember a few important points!

The BASIS : EITHER .... OR .... ; NEITHER .... NOR ....

In an affirmative sentence  when there is a choice between two or more possibilities:

                                           EITHER  + Noun                         ....                      OR  + Noun ...

                                                          + verbal group                                               + verbal group 

- Eat either meat or fish, but eat proteins...

-  He can either work, or go out, but he won't disturb the class. 

- I eat neither fish, nor meat, and you won't make me do it !

-  He will neither work, nor go out, but he'll keep silent ! 

1) Putting a negation, or not?

- an affirmative sentence (we have just seen it) enables both constructions: either ...or, neither ... nor...

-  I can either work now, or after the meal, but I will neither leave my work undone, nor do it tomorrow. 

- in a negative sentence , neither ...nor ... cannot be used.

-  You won't accept either my solution, or the other one ... We're in a dead end. 

2) Singular ou plural ?

If the different  alternatives are all in the singular, the verb must be in the singular. If one of the alternatives is in the plural, then, the verb must be in the plural.

-  Neither my mother, nor my father wants to pay for my holiday. 

-  Neither the teacher, nor the students were happy with the chosen solution.

3) What about ... NOT EITHER?

In a negative sentence, if you equally reject two alternatives, you must use NOT ... EITHER.

-  I don't eat meat and I don't eat fish either ! 

Well well! If you take care of these important points, you'll have an excellent test!  

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1. Allan can not either eatneither eat norneither eat oreither eat orI don't know drink. He can neither relaxcannot either relaxcannot relax eithercannot relax neitherI don't know as his kidney transplant will take place in 2 hours...
2. Can you neither spell your name norneither spelt your nameeither spell your name orI don't know write it down for me? I've left my glasses at home.
3. Sandy will neither cook a pie orneither cook a pie noreither cook a pie orI don't know make a salad, but she won’t come to the picnic and neither won't give drinkswon't give drinks eitherwon't give drinks neitherI don't know.
4. Either Sandy norEither Sandy orNeither Sandy norI don't know Patricia is willing to help him and I'm not eithereither am Ineither I amI don't know.
5. We can neither eat at homeeat at home neithereither eat at home orI don't know go to the restaurant, as you like.
6. Neither Grandma norEither Grandma orEither Grandma norI don't know Grandpa is going to babysit tomorrow… Don’t worry, you’ll go to your concert!
7. Neither Tim’s Mom, nor his Dad are speakingspeakspeaksI don't know Norwegian… Yet, they’ve decided to live in Oslo. As he goes to school near Oslo, now,Tim has no real choice: neither he'll learn the language, noror he'll learn the language eithereither he'll learn the language, orI don't know he won’t be able to study at school, or either play with his school friendsor neither play with his school friendsor play with his school friends eitherI don't know.