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Neither – Nor

1/27/2012

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Neither is negative in meaning. It is the only negative word required in an independent clause. An independent clause has both a noun and a verb. The verb will always be in the affirmative.

Nor is also negative in meaning. It is the the only negative word required in an independent clause. An independent clause has both a noun and a verb. The verb is always in the affirmative.

Neither and Nor are most often used in conjunction. When this happens, they join two negative ideas. They mean, "not the first part, not the second part". Think of Neither – Nor as the opposite of Both – And.

Nor is a coordinating conjunction (and, so, but, or, etc.). This means that it normally connects ideas within a sentence – joining two independent clauses. Nor continues a negative statement of a negative statement already mentioned.

Apart from their negative meanings, here are some rules:

1. Neither is never paired with 'or'.
Example:
I neither saw the movie nor read the book.

2. Neither + singular noun
Example:
Neither option appeals to me.

3. Neither of + (the) plural noun
Example:
Holly said that neither of the movies were good.

4. When two subjects are connected by Neither – Nor, the subject that is closest to the verb determines whether the verb is singular or plural.
Examples:
- Neither my brother nor my parents have been to Korea.
- Neither my parents nor my brother has been to Korea.

5. When Neither – Nor are paired, we must use parallel structure.
Examples:
- He neither slowed down, nor acknowledged me at the intersection.
(Neither + verb, Nor + verb)
-Neither man nor woman has been to Mars.
(Neither + noun, Nor + noun)
- The article is neither interesting nor accurate.
(Neither + adjective, Nor + adjective)

6. When Neither is used at the beginning of a clause and is not paired with Nor, but follows a previous negative statement, we must invert word order, meaning that the subject and the verb or auxiliary are inverted.
Example:
A: I don't like onions.
B: Neither do I.

7. When Nor is used at the beginning of a clause and is not paired with Neither, it must follow a negative statement. We must invert word order, meaning that the subject and verb or auxiliary are reversed.
Example:
A: I don't like waking up early.
B: Nor do I.

8. Informally, we have all heard people say, "Me neither", as in the example:
A: I can't swim.
B: Me neither.
The formal answer to the first statement is: "I can't either."



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All right vs. Alright

1/20/2012

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All right can mean different things depending on the context.

1. Permissible -- Is it all right if I work late tonight?
2. Satisfactory -- I found his comedy to be only all right.
3. To reinforce a declaration -- It's cold out, all right.
4. OK -- Are you feeling all right?
5. All correct -- My answers on the test were all right.


Alright remains to be a source of grief. Technically, it is NOT a word. However, people use it so frequently that I fear it is slowly gaining acceptance. I consider this poor spelling.

Remember: Poor spelling is not something that must be lived with. With a little work, it can be greatly improved.

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Too vs. To

1/13/2012

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Too vs. To. Not to be confused with a cat in a tutu.
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Too is often used before an adjective or adverb; you will never see it before a verb. Too is different from 'very'.

Too can mean 'more than enough' or more than necessary'. It often implies negativity.

Adjective -- You're never too old to try new things.
Adverb -- He spoke too quickly for me to understand what he was saying.


Too can mean 'also'. If left to the end of a sentence, please separate too with a comma.
Examples:
1. Alain: I like dogs.
   Jeff: I do,too.
2. Betty: I want to go shopping.
   Caroline: Can I come? I want to go, too.

To can be used in several ways.
1. Most people recognize it as a preposition, referring to a place, direction, or position.
Examples:
- He went to the store.
- Look to the right.

2. To is used when creating the infinitive. The simple infinitive is created by joining
to + the simple form of a verb. Here is a list of common verbs that can be followed by the infinitive: want, need, hope, decide, promise, agree, forget, and try.
Examples:
- I want to go home.
- I need to drink some coffee.

3. Another way to use to is as an ellipsis. An ellipsis normally happens when an expression is used for the second time, after the complete form has already been used once.
Examples:
- I forgot to by milk. I didn't mean to.
Alex B: Do you want to get some coffee?
Lisa: No, I don't want to.

4. To can be used to describe range, which often replaces the dash in expressions like 9 to 5.

5. To is also used when expressing purpose, which means the same as 'in order to'.
- I went to the store in order to buy a present for Brad.
- I went to the store to buy a present for Brad.


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Who's vs. Whose

1/6/2012

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The word ‘who’ functions as a subject pronoun. This means that whenever it is used in a sentence, it must appear before a verb.




Who’s is used when the main verb is BE or HAVE, or in the progressive form (ING). Who’s is the contracted form of ‘who is’ or ‘who has’.
Examples:
That is the girl who’s (who is) singing.
The girl who’s (who is) in the bedroom is the girl who’s (who is) singing.
That is the girl who’s (who has) been singing since she was 2 years old.
Who’s (who is) that man?
Who's (who has) been smoking in the house?

Whose is a possessive adjective. This means that it will always appear before a noun.
Examples:
1. There is the man. His wallet was stolen.
(We can change the possessive ‘his wallet’ to the possessive ‘whose wallet’ to make one sentence.)
There is the man whose wallet was stolen.
2. I know a girl. Her father works at the hospital..
(We can change the possessive ‘Her father’ to the possessive ‘whose father’ to make one sentence)
I know a girl whose father works at the hospital.
3. Whose wallet was stolen?
4. Whose father works at the hospital?

A good way to figure out whether to use who's or whose is by trying to make 'who is' fit in your question or sentence. If it makes sense, then use it. If not, please use 'whose'.

Test yourself. See if you can tell the difference between WHO'S and WHOSE at Fun Trivia.

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