Neither Jane nor Sue ______ they will pass. |
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| Votes: 293 |
Comments: 4 |
Added: April 2004 |
Comments:
| Reader BATS - 5th December 2006 19:50
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| The neither-nor pair is saying not this one and not that one, with one being the determiner for the verb usage. The non-standard use of they should actually be the pronound she since both names are obviously female.
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| Gillian - 7th December 2006 08:47
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| I disagree- they could individually thinking about both passing.
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| Cyndi - 7th May 2007 13:46
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| When we say 'Neither-nor' we are talking of them as a whole; hence 'believe'. But if we say 'Either - or' we are talking of them as singular, hence it would be 'Either Jane or Sue believes they will pass.
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| teia_petrescu - 25th August 2007 23:04
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| In this case we have to apply the rule of proximity. When subjects in a sentence are linked by the correlative conjunctions "neither/nor," the subject that is closer to the verb determines the number of the verb. Thus, the correct answer is "believes".
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