neither

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1.
pronunciation.
Both pronunciations, niy-dhǝ and nee-dhǝ, are about equally common.

2.
parts of speech.
Neither functions in two ways: as an adjective or pronoun, and as an adverb or conjunction.

• adjective and pronoun. Neither means 'not the one nor the other (of two things)': Neither child knew the answer / Neither wanted to stay / Neither of them is right. When more than two items are involved, no is preferable for the adjective and none for the pronoun, although neither tends to be used informally especially for the pronoun. Normally neither governs a singular verb, but with the type neither of (+ plural) a plural construction is sometimes used to emphasize the plurality of the statement as a whole: Neither of them are suitable.
• adverb and conjunction. Neither is regularly paired with nor, linking two subjects. If both subjects are singular and in the third person, the verb should normally be singular: Neither its chairman, Sir Frederick Dainton, nor its chief executive, Kenneth Cooper, is planning any dramatic gestures—Times, 1985. But a plural verb is also attested historically and is still often found, especially when the essential plurality that is always present in neither comes to the fore: Neither search nor labour are necessary—Dr Johnson, 1759 / But neither Baker nor Bush are needed for that—Newsweek, 1991. As an adverb, neither can be used with nor to link more than two items: Buildings made of some translucent and subtly incandescent material, neither glass nor stone nor steel—Penelope Lively, 1991. Neither is used as a quasi-conjunction in constructions of the informal type He's had no breakfast. Neither did he want any, in which it is a substitute for nor.

3.
change of number and person with neither...nor...
Complications occur when the number (singular or plural) of the two subjects is different. If either of the subjects (especially the second) is plural, the verb is normally plural:

Neither the Conservative figures nor the evidence of Labour's recovery since 1983 produce any sense of inexorable movement in political fortunes—Times, 1985.

A mixture of persons is more difficult, and can normally only be resolved by rephrasing, so that (e.g.) Neither you nor I am/are/is the right person becomes You are not the right person, and neither [or nor] am I.

4.
position of neither and nor.
The position of neither and nor should be such that the grammatical structures are correctly balanced, as in This suits neither one purpose nor the other but not in ☒ This neither suits one purpose nor the other.

5.
neither followed by or.
Although the Old English (up to 1150)D gives plenty of literary evidence for neither followed by or rather than nor (e.g.

I can neither tell how many we kill'd, or how many we wounded—Daniel Defoe, 1719)

, in current usage this is considered incorrect and should be avoided.

6.
neither replacing nor.
When nor follows a negative statement (not necessarily one with neither) and introduces a different grammatical subject, it can be replaced by neither:

Becky is killed accidentally. The police don't care much; neither does Henry's wife—Publishers Weekly, 1974.

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IN BRIEF: Not one nor the other.

If it isn't one thing, it's another, unless it's neither. — Zaadz.com

LearnThatWord.com is a free vocabulary and spelling program where you only pay for results!

For a list of words related to neither, see:

• Conjunctions
• Limitations and Conditions

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See words rhyming with "neither."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Neither.

Dansk (Danish)
det., -
pron. - ingen (af to), ingen af delene
adv. - heller ikke, ligeså ikke
adj. - hverken eller
conj. - heller ikke

idioms:

• neither here nor there    irrelevant, hører ingen steder hjemme

Nederlands (Dutch)
noch, geen van beide (n), ook niet, evenmin

Français (French)
det. - aucun des deux
pron. - ni l'un ni l'autre
adv. - ni ... ni, ni
adj. - aucun des deux, ni l'un ni l'autre
conj. - ni...ni, ni, ne ... plus, (et ...) non plus, d'ailleurs ... ne ... pas (littér)

idioms:

• neither here nor there    (ne pas être) la question, (n'avoir rien) à voir avec la question

Deutsch (German)
conj. - weder, auch nicht
adv. - auch nicht
det. - doch auch (wieder)
pron. - kein(er, e, es)
adj. - kein(er, e, es)

idioms:

• neither here nor there    völlig nebensächlich

Ελληνική (Greek)
conj. - ούτε
adv. - κανείς από τους δύο, ούτε, ούτε ο ένας ούτε ο άλλος

idioms:

• neither here nor there    άνευ σημασίας, άσχετος

Italiano (Italian)
né, nemmeno

idioms:

• neither here nor there    né questo né quello

Português (Portuguese)
conj. - nem
adv. - tampouco

idioms:

• neither here nor there    nem aqui, nem lá

Русский (Russian)
никто, никакой

idioms:

• neither here nor there    ни здесь, ни там, не касается

Español (Spanish)
det. - ni
pron. - ninguno, ni uno ni otro, ni el uno ni el otro
adv. - ni siquiera, ni aun
adj. - ninguno de los dos, ni uno ni otro, ninguno, ningún
conj. - ni, tampoco

idioms:

• neither here nor there    nada que ver, no hacer al caso

Svenska (Swedish)
conj. - varken, (inte) heller
adv. - varken, (inte) heller

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
两者都不, 皆不, 两不, 既不...又不, 也不

idioms:

• neither here nor there    不相干, 没有关系的

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
det. - 兩者都不
pron. - 兩者都不
adv. - 皆不, 兩不
adj. - 兩者都不
conj. - 既不...又不, 也不

idioms:

• neither here nor there    不相干, 沒有關係的

한국어 (Korean)
det. - not either
pron. - (양자 중의)어느쪽도 ~이 아니다
adv. - ~도~도 ~아니다
adj. - 어느 ~도 아니다
conj. - ~도~도 ~아니다

日本語 (Japanese)
adv. - どちらも…ない, …もまた…しない, 少しも…ない

idioms:

• neither .. nor    ～も～もない
• neither here nor there    要点を外れて, 取るに足らない

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(حرف عطف) لا هذا ولا ذاك, ولا واحد (ظرف) ولا, لا ... ولا‏

עברית (Hebrew)
det. - ‮אף אחד (משניהם) לא‬
pron. - ‮אף אחד (משניהם) לא‬
adv. - ‮אף אחד מהם לא, וגם לא‬
adj. - ‮לא זה ולא זה‬
conj. - ‮אף אחד (משניהם) לא, לא יותר, לא עוד‬

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