Question
Updated on
29 Jul 2021
- Spanish (Chile)
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English (US)
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Italian
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German
Question about English (US)
Neither and negative sentences
Neither and negative sentences
Is it correct to say a negative sentence and then to use "neither"? For example: "i don't drink neither water nor beer" or i just have to say "I drink neither water nor beer"??. Today in my school's english class, my teacher was showing us how to use "neither, nor" and used this sentence "Let's see either on monday or tuesday" and i asked if i can use "neither, nor" instead of "either, or" but she told me that's incorrect because the sentence is positive and for using "neither" it should be negative, but i learned the opposite on Internet.
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29 Jul 2021
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- English (US)
Maybe your teacher meant that when you use neither/nor, the INTENT (meaning) of the sentence is negative, and when you use either/or, the intent is positive. However, when you use neither/nor, you do NOT use the negative version of the verb. So, this is correct:
I drink neither water nor beer.
I hope this helps - let me know if I can explain anything better :)
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- English (US)
Maybe your teacher meant that when you use neither/nor, the INTENT (meaning) of the sentence is negative, and when you use either/or, the intent is positive. However, when you use neither/nor, you do NOT use the negative version of the verb. So, this is correct:
I drink neither water nor beer.
I hope this helps - let me know if I can explain anything better :)
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- English (US)
she meant that the sentence "let's see either on Monday or Tuesday" is a positive sentence, and using neither/nor will make it a negative sentence, and she didn't mean to say a negative sentence.
also "let's see neither on Monday nor Tuesday" doesn't really make sense. it's negative and also doesn't give any other information, so it sounds incomplete.
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- Spanish (Chile)
@beached10 we were practicing the use of Either, or, Neither, nor and Both so there were a lot of sentences, both positives and negatives. But if you say that it doesn't really make sence, maybe that has something to do with it. Thank you for answering!
- Spanish (Chile)
@DaisyVD thank you very much for your comment! :)
And nope because we were practicing both positives and negatives sentences and we had to guess if you have to use "either, or", "neither, nor" and "both".
Well, thanks for letting me know that way to not use neither.
I also asked that because my teacher also left a sentence that was "i don't eat ____ chicken ____ fish" or something like that and the correct answer was "neither, nor". I asked her if i could use "either, or" and she told me yes. But now i know that it is the only answer, so thankss, i might argue this with my teacher next time
And nope because we were practicing both positives and negatives sentences and we had to guess if you have to use "either, or", "neither, nor" and "both".
Well, thanks for letting me know that way to not use neither.
I also asked that because my teacher also left a sentence that was "i don't eat ____ chicken ____ fish" or something like that and the correct answer was "neither, nor". I asked her if i could use "either, or" and she told me yes. But now i know that it is the only answer, so thankss, i might argue this with my teacher next time
- English (US)
@DiamondCristian ¡De nada!
That's so strange, because "I don't eat neither chicken nor fish" is NOT correct. It has to be "I eat neither chicken nor fish". So I have to disagree with your teacher too XD
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- Spanish (Chile)
@DaisyVD well, maybe she got confused or also had a teacher that told her the same xD
I have another question: can i also say "i don't eat either chicken or fish"? or that has another meaning/is incorrect?
I have another question: can i also say "i don't eat either chicken or fish"? or that has another meaning/is incorrect?
- English (US)
@DiamondCristian Haha maybe that's what happened :P
Yes, you can say that, and it has the same meaning as the neither version I gave :) And honestly, using "neither" is pretty unusual for casual conversation. You might see it if you're reading something formal, but it's very unlikely for people to actually use it when they're speaking.
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- Spanish (Chile)
@DaisyVD alright, i got it. ¡Muchas gracias for answering my questions! you explained it very clear ;D
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