![\"Manhattan](\"http:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2017\/03\/4-11-17-social-1.png\")
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Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free? We\u2019re not kidding! <\/i><\/b>Check out our upcoming courses here<\/i><\/b><\/a>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n <\/i><\/b>This is the first in what I hope will be many student-question inspired posts. Allyson from Philadelphia was wondering whether \u201cnor\u201d had to be paired with \u201cneither\u201d or whether it could be used on its own. The answer was far more complex than expected, so here it is. If you have an idea for a GMAT grammar blog post, or just have a question that you want answered, email me at <\/span>emadan@manhattanprep.com<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n To begin, you\u2019ll need to understand the essentials of parallelism. You can get in-depth coverage of parallelism in our <\/span>Sentence Correction Strategy Guide<\/span><\/a>, but here are the basics. Two (or more) things in a list have to be both structural and logically parallel. Let\u2019s start with the positive form: either\/or.<\/span><\/p>\n I will either clean the bathroom or walk the dog.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Parallel Element 1: Clean the bathroom<\/span><\/p>\n Parallel Element 2: Walk the dog<\/span><\/p>\n Both are actions that I might do. The word \u201ceither,\u201d generally speaking, is optional. If I remove it, the sentence still makes sense.<\/span><\/p>\n I will clean the bathroom or walk the dog.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Sometimes you\u2019ll need to keep it around because otherwise it\u2019s unclear what the two things being listed are, but that\u2019s not what we\u2019re getting into today. Instead, let\u2019s see what happens when we use the negative form: neither\/nor.<\/span><\/p>\n I will neither clean the bathroom nor walk the dog.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n Parallel Element 1: Clean the bathroom<\/span><\/p>\n Parallel Element 2: Walk the dog<\/span><\/p>\n Same parallel elements, different meaning. It is clear that neither of these actions will occur if I have my way. That clarity disappears as soon as I remove the word \u201cneither\u201d from the sentence.<\/span><\/p>\n I will clean the bathroom nor walk the dog.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n This meaning is ridiculous. There\u2019s no way to know what I meant to say \u2013 it\u2019s that bad. So in this case, \u201cneither\u201d is necessary, but why? The simple answer is that \u201cneither\u201d introduces a negative. Without it, I\u2019m saying \u201cI will\u2026\u201d when what I really mean is \u201cI will not\u2026\u201d That\u2019s why \u201ceither\u201d is often optional while \u201cneither\u201d is often not.<\/span><\/p>\n But \u201cneither\u201d is not always needed. Sometimes you can clarify within the verb itself that we\u2019re discussing negative actions. Let\u2019s try to change our previous sentence to accommodate this. You would change the first parallel element to:<\/span><\/p>\n I will not clean the bathroom\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n This is clearly negative, even without the neither. I just substituted the word \u201cnot.\u201d But it\u2019s not quite that easy. If I bring back the second parallel element, unaltered, look what results:<\/span><\/p>\n I will not clean the bathroom nor walk the dog.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n This may or may not sound right to you \u2013 make sure you\u2019re making note of what issues you\u2019re able to catch by ear and what issues require you to rely on the rules \u2013 but I assure you, it is wrong. Let\u2019s pinpoint why.<\/span><\/p>\n With only a hasty glance, you could break up the parallelism like so:<\/span><\/p>\n I will not\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n 1. clean the bathroom The two items are parallel, both are things I will not do, but I\u2019ve neglected the \u201cnor.\u201d Just as neither does, nor negates the clause it\u2019s referring to. So a more accurate breakdown would be:<\/span><\/p>\n I will not\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n 1. clean the bathroom I\u2019ve accidentally created a double negative. The meaning of this sentence is closest to \u201cI will not clean the bathroom or I will walk the dog.\u201d That\u2019s not at all what I meant. In order to fix this sentence, we\u2019ll have to be incredibly clear about what I will and won\u2019t do. Try this form:<\/span><\/p>\n I will not clean the bathroom, nor will I walk the dog.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n By repeating the verb \u201cI will,\u201d I allowed myself to clearly express the negative form \u201cI will not\u201d for both elements. It\u2019s wordy, but correct. Try to combine these sentences both with and without \u201cneither.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Pausing to give you time before you look at my combinations\u2026<\/p>\n Let\u2019s combine!<\/span><\/p>\n I like neither apples nor pears.<\/span><\/p>\n I do not like apples, nor do I like pears.<\/span><\/p>\n I can neither swim nor fly.<\/span><\/p>\n I cannot swim, nor can I fly.<\/span><\/p>\n Magazines are neither novels nor stories.<\/span><\/p>\n Magazines are not novels, nor are they stories.<\/span><\/p>\n The drink is neither soda nor tea.<\/span><\/p>\n The drink is not soda nor is it tea.<\/span><\/p>\n In every case, you have to repeat the verb in both parallel elements in order to omit \u201cneither.\u201d You would be incorrect to simply pair nouns (<\/span>The drink is not soda nor tea<\/span><\/i>).<\/span><\/p>\n In sum, \u201cneither\u201d is not essential, but is entirely dependent on whether you are correctly negating each of the things on your list. The trap is an accidental double-negative.<\/span> It is not\u2026nor X<\/span><\/i> should translate to <\/span>It is not not X<\/span><\/i>. Beware of this and brush up on parallelism.<\/span><\/p>\n Don\u2019t forget to send any topics you\u2019d like to see in a future grammar post to <\/span>emadan@manhattanprep.com<\/span><\/a>! ?<\/span><\/p>\n See that \u201cSUBSCRIBE\u201d button in the top right corner? Click on it to receive all our GMAT blog updates straight to your inbox!<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Did you know that you can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GMAT courses absolutely free? We\u2019re not kidding! Check out our upcoming courses here. This is the first in what I hope will be many student-question inspired posts. Allyson from Philadelphia was wondering whether \u201cnor\u201d had to be paired […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[873,929,52871,930,2,26,10],"tags":[267,53012],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-13504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-for-current-studiers","category-gmat-prep","category-gmat-strategies","category-gmat-study-guide","category-how-to-study","category-sentence-correction","category-verbal-on-gmat","tag-gmat-grammar","tag-neither-and-nor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13504"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13504\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13577,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13504\/revisions\/13577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13504"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gmat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=13504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\n2. walk the dog<\/p>\n
\n2. not walk the dog<\/p>\n\n
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\n![\"Emily](\"https:\/\/d27gmszdzgfpo3.cloudfront.net\/gmat\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/18\/2016\/01\/emily-madan-150x150.png\" "\\"Emily")
<\/a><\/strong><\/em>Emily Madan<\/a> is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Philadelphia.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/i><\/b>Having scored in the 99th percentile of the GMAT (770) and LSAT (177), Emily is committed to helping others achieve their full potential.\u00a0In the classroom, she loves bringing concepts to life and her greatest thrill is that moment when a complex topic suddenly becomes clear to her students. <\/em><\/i>Check out Emily\u2019s upcoming GMAT courses here<\/a>. Your first class is always free!<\/em><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"