Dear Readers,
I am going to start this post with a cute exchange between Dr. Sheldon Cooper and his casual girlfriend, Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler, from an episode of "The Big Bang Theory." Sheldon has become jealous when she goes out with another fellow. He proposes this scenario to her: "With the understanding that nothing changes whatsoever, physical or otherwise, I would not object to us no longer characterizing you as 'not my girlfriend.'" She replies, "Interesting...Now try it without the quadruple negative." She is obviously bright enough, having a doctorate of science, to catch those pesky negatives. What I am going to focus on this month is the actual need for two negatives.
When one uses the conjunction "neither," it should be followed by its corresponding negative "nor," not "or." See below for examples of right and wrong.
WRONG
Example: In the July 16, 2012 edition of People magazine, there was an article about Katie Holmes' split from Tom Cruise. "Neither Nicole [Kidman, Cruise's second wife] or Katie embraced Scientology," says one source.
Example: Le Mariage by Diane Johnson has a character musing about a missing member of her community. She says, "Neither SuAnn or Cristal are one hundred percent, in my opinion." *Not only does the author not use the correct nor, she also uses a plural verb "are" when it should be singular, "is."
CORRECT
Example: Geena Davis' character, Dr. Lindqvist, on the TV movie "Coma," says this when a resident doctor barges into an Ethics Committee meeting: "This is neither the time nor the place."
Examples from 50 Shades Freed by E.L. James: (1) Narrator Anastasia Steele is reluctant to talk about where her honeymoon will take place. She says, "Neither Mia nor Kate has managed to inveigle the information out of him [referring to her fiance, Christian]."
(2) As Anastasia, her maid of honor Kate, and her mother discuss the lack of the word "obey" in the wedding vows, Ana's thoughts are, "Neither she nor my mother have any idea of the fight Christian and I had about that."
Example: The BBC America TV show "Copper" takes place in New York around the time after the civil war. In one episode, detective Kevin Corcoran is searching for his missing friend and colleague. He goes to the parish priest for help. The priest says, "I have neither seen nor heard from Francis Maguire," much to Kevin's consternation.
Example: Philippa Gregory's novel The White Queen takes place in 1471 England. King Edward York tells his wife about his enemy: "Warwick is holed up in Coventry and will neither surrender nor give battle."
*In these last two examples, I am pleased to see that the modern writers chose to have their characters speak proper English. We should all strive to speak as well. But the point is neither here nor there. It's up to you.
