Review 1 (lessons 1–5)

When you need to talk about two things at once, English takes a pair of conjunctions. There are three such pairs, and each one has its own meaning: "this and that too", "this or that", "not this and not that".

The form:

When it is used.

both … and joins: the one and the other are both true. A subject with both … and is always plural, and so is the verb: Both Tom and Anna are coming.

either … or offers a choice: one of the two is true. You can either pay now or pay later. Either Mark or Lucy will meet you at the station. The pair can also join two whole sentences — this is how conditions and ultimatums sound: Either you tell him, or I will. (If you don't tell him, I will tell him myself.) A comma then goes before the second part.

neither … nor makes both negative: neither the one nor the other is true. This pair carries the negative itself, so the verb after it is positive: Neither Tom nor Anna has called. In French (Ni Tom ni Anna n'ont appelé), Polish and many other languages the negative is heard twice here; in English only once. This is the main rule of the topic.

Which word the verb agrees with. After either … or and neither … nor the verb looks at the subject that is closest to it: Neither my brother nor my parents are at home. Either my parents or my sister is going to pick you up. In conversation people often use the plural after neither … nor even for two singular subjects — Neither Tom nor Anna have called; in writing the singular is safer.

Where the conjunctions go. Each conjunction goes right before its own part, and the parts must be of the same kind: two nouns, two verbs, two adverbials. She speaks both French and German. — after the conjunctions, two languages. We can either take a taxi or walk. — after the conjunctions, two actions. He neither called nor wrote. — he did not call and did not write.

Compare neither … nor with an ordinary negative:

In everyday speech "not this and not that" is more often said with a negative and or, and neither … nor is kept for writing and for cases when you want to stress: not the one and not the other.

How to pronounce them. either and neither have two pronunciations in British English: /ˈaɪðə/ or /ˈiːðə/, /ˈnaɪðə/ or /ˈniːðə/. Both are correct — choose one and keep to it. The conjunctions themselves are unstressed; the stress falls on what they join: "both TOM and ANna". Before the second part there is a short pause, so that the choice or the list can be heard.

More examples:

Don't say this. ✗ Neither the train nor the bus wasn't running → ✓ Neither the train nor the bus was running. The second negative is not needed.

Check yourself. How do you say that Tom didn't come and Anna didn't come either, with one pair of conjunctions? Which verb do you need in Both my sister and my brother ___ (live) in York? What is wrong in She both speaks French and German?