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Making a choice: Either...or/ Neither ...nor... - English lesson

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 either eat orneither eat orneither eat nornot either eatI 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 either spell your name orneither spelt your nameneither spell your name norI don't know write it down for me? I've left my glasses at home.
3. Sandy will neither cook a pie oreither cook a pie orneither cook a pie norI don't know make a salad, but she won’t come to the picnic and won't give drinks neitherwon't give drinks eitherneither won't give drinksI don't know.
4. Either Sandy orNeither Sandy norEither Sandy norI don't know Patricia is willing to help him and either am Ineither I amI'm not eitherI don't know.
5. We can either eat at home oreat at home neitherneither eat at homeI don't know go to the restaurant, as you like.
6. Either Grandma norEither Grandma orNeither 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: either he'll learn the language, oror he'll learn the language eitherneither he'll learn the language, norI don't know he won’t be able to study at school, or either play with his school friendsor play with his school friends eitheror neither play with his school friendsI don't know.