"Either/Or" versus "Neither/Nor"
In a series of posts Virtus will provide tips and advice covering many aspects of publishing. This series will be an ongoing selection of language tips, covering areas that many authors find difficult or confusing. These will be short and to the point.
Virtus Publishing Language Tip #16: “Either/Or” versus “Neither/Nor”
An area of confusion for many authors and editors concerns the use of “either/or” versus “neither/nor.” Let’s look at this common issue.
It’s important to understand that the context of the sentence will determine how “either” and “neither” are being used. Whether or not “or” or “nor” is even needed will depend on that context.
It’s also important to realize that “either” is used in a positive sense, while “neither” is used in a negative sense. We’ll see examples of this below.
There are four main categories for their usage. Let’s look at their definitions as given in Merriam-Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary. The end of the quoted material is denoted by the “∎.” I’ll follow each definition with explanations and examples.
Pronoun (Merriam-Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary)
A word belonging to one of the major form classes in any of a great many languages that is used as a substitute for a noun or noun equivalent, takes noun constructions and is declined, refers to persons or things named, asked for, or understood in the context, and has little or no fixed meaning except one of relation or limitation.
∎
When “either” and “neither” are being used as pronouns they would normally appear with the word “of” along with a noun phrase.
Examples:
Either of these cars would be a great buy.
(Positive sense: “either” is correct.)
Neither of these cars will cost too much.
(Negative sense: “neither” is correct.)
Adverb (Merriam-Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary)
A word belonging to one of the major form classes in any of a great many languages typically used as a modifier of a verb, an adjective, another adverb, a preposition, a phrase, a clause, or a sentence and typically expressing some relation of manner or quality.
∎
When “either” and “neither” are being used as adverbs they link other words.
Examples:
“I don’t like the red car.”
“Neither do I.”
(Negative sense: “neither” is correct.)
“I didn’t like the red car we saw yesterday.”
“I didn’t like it either.”
(Positive sense: “either” is correct.)
Determiner (Merriam-Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary)
A word belonging to a group of limiting noun modifiers that in English consists of a, an, any, each, either, every, neither, no, one, some, the, that, those, this, these, what, whatever, which, whichever, possessive adjectives (as my), and possessive-case forms (as Joe’s) and is characterized by occurrence before descriptive adjectives modifying the same noun (as that in “that big yellow house” or his in “his new car”).
∎
When “either” and “neither” are being used as determiners they would appear before the noun.
Examples:
I like them both: I’d like to own either car.
(Positive sense: “either” is correct.)
Neither car is affordable.
(Negative sense: “neither” is correct.)
Conjunction (Merriam-Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary)
A linguistic form (as an uninflected word) that joins together words or word groups such as sentences (as but in “He tried. But he failed”), clauses (as if in “I’ll go if you will”), phrases (as and in “over the river and through the woods”), words (as or in “first or last”), or a word and a phrase (as and in “my brother and I”).
∎
When “either” and “neither” are being used as conjunctions they would they are paired with “or” and “nor,” respectively. They perform very different functions.
“Either/Or”
When paired they are used to offer a choice between two things.
Examples:
You can buy either the red or the green car.
Either the red or the green car would be fine with me.
“Neither/Nor”
When paired they are used to negate both parts of a statement.
Example
Neither the green car nor the red car is for sale.
It is neither the green car nor the red car that I want to buy: It’s the turquoise car.
Once again, when we are writing or editing it is mission-critical that we pay close attention to all text regarding meaning and context.
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