I'll take a stab... I think "recalls" is incorrect. The sentence expresses the first person plural because the two subjects are joined by the conjunction "nor", and the predicate should agree. For example, if the sentence was a positive expression, "Both Dave Barry and I", you wouldn't say "Both Dave Barry and I recallS..."; you would say "Both Dave Barry and I recall..."
Bad editor! Bad! I wonder if Wormylegs is his editor. Then again, I'm a computer programmer. I'm hardly qualified to bloviate on stuff like this, but an utter lack of qualification has never stopped me before. Sincerely, Hypocritical Grammar Nazi. ----Original Message Follows---- From: "Ellen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: [wc] grammar police question Date: Sat, 10 Mar 2007 16:24:18 -0000 Gene started last week's column with this sentence: Neither Dave Barry nor I recalls for sure when and where we first had this discussion, which is not surprising inasmuch as beer was involved. Is this supposed to be "recalls" or "recall"? I can never get this straight. I always thought it was "neither of us recall". For some reason "neither he nor I recalls" sounds wrong. Does anyone know if there is an "across the board" right answer for this, or is it one of those things that is a matter of personal preference or the accepted style of the publication, in this case the Post? I still think it's wrong, but who am I to correct the grammar of the ultimate grammar police? _________________________________________________________________ Mortgage rates as low as 4.625% - Refinance $150,000 loan for $579 a month. Intro*Terms https://www2.nextag.com/goto.jsp?product=100000035&url=%2fst.jsp&tm=y&search=mortgage_text_links_88_h27f6&disc=y&vers=743&s=4056&p=5117
