--- In [email protected], "authfriend" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], "Patrick Gillam" <jpgillam@> > wrote: > > > > --- In [email protected], "authfriend" <jstein@> wrote: > > > > > > My knowledge of grammar is almost completely by ear > > > > Same here. My mom had excellent grammar, and I picked it > > up from her. As a result, I never learned the rules. I could > > talk good without them. > > > > I would say "Neither Barry nor I are going to agree > > to that," or "neither Barry nor I am inclined to agree." > > > > To me, neither/nor is treated like either/or, and > > verbs after "or" take the case of the closest noun, > > or whatever you call it. > > Well, I went and looked it up at Random House's grammar > Q&A page. It doesn't deal specifically with "is" vs. > "am"--i.e., when there's a personal pronoun--but it does > point out that "neither/nor" can be singular *or* plural, > because while "neither/nor" is the negative counterpart > of "either/or," which always takes singular, it is *also* > the negative counterpart of "both/and," which always takes > plural. The singular is generally preferred, however. > > Your observation about the case of the verb agreeing > with the closest noun is also correct, but after some > consideration, in this case I'd go with the "both/and" > loophole and use the plural verb just because it doesn't > sound so weird.
By the way, a sentence involving "neither of us" has "neither" as the subject, just as "duke" is the subject in a sentence with "duke of earl," so you use whatever sounds/works best with neither, er, "neither." To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
