How To Use Either/Or And Neither/Nor Properly

Before going into this topic I want to put few questions before you to think about it. First one is, can we use 'either' without 'or' or 'neither' without 'nor'? Do they always come together? The next question is, Does both the words either and neither carries the same meaning? I hope you can find the answer for these questions by the end of this article. These terms are often used by us in many conversations and write ups, but I have seen many people who are struggling to use it in the appropriate place. So let us first discuss about the meaning and usage of these terms with adequate examples.

Either/or

Mostly we use this term when we compare two things, for example we can either drink tea or coffee. In this example we stated the limited in choice to two options. It is not always necessary to use these terms 'either and or' together always, so here goes another example for this I'm not happy either' in this sentence you must have noticed that this is a reply for someone's question or statement. Let us see more examples,

(i) There was no mistake on either side

(ii) Either you can ride the bike or car

(iii) It was either Mary or Sheela who received your letter.
(iv) Either Mary or Sheela received your letter.
(v) Tom doesn't like biscuit or bread.

Neither/nor

Generally 'neither' gives negative meaning to the verbs. This is also tells that the current statement and the following statements are negative. For example, She was not sad and neither were they.  It carries the meaning that not one nor the other, not either. Always the use of either is consider as positive and the use of neither as negative. You can able to find it clear in the below examples.

(i) Neither the teachers nor the students are free in the class

(ii) Neither of my sisters are around

(iii) Neither India nor Srilanka got to the quarter finals this year.
(iv) By the way, neither John nor I drink.

(v) I could neither cry nor laugh.

Note:

1. Either cannot be paired with nor and neither cannot be paired with or

2. Never use two negative terms in a same sentence. For example, Kevin doesn't know nothing, this is absolutely wrong.

3. Louise didn't find the book neither on nor under the table. This sentence is wrong, we shouldn't use both negatives in a sentence which implicitly makes it positive.   


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