I do not drink the alcohol or (don't) know (necessity of second don't)

[ademoglu]

Hi,

- I do not drink the alcohol or (don't) know most of the guests at his lavish parties.

I tried to build such a sentence. I would like to ask if it sounds natural to put the second 'don't' in that sentence or not.

Thanks.

 

[teechar]

I do not drink alcohol, nor do I know most of the guests at his lavish parties.

I do not drink alcohol and I do not know most of the guests at his lavish parties.

;-)

 

[ademoglu]

http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/or

AND NOT used after a negative verb when you mean not one thing and also not another thing:

- Sonia never cleans or even offers to wash the dishes.

Thanks for the answer, but I cannot understand why my sentence is wrong.

- I do not drink the alcohol or (don't) know most of the guests at his lavish parties.

 

[Rover_KE]

Your sentence is not comparable to the one from Longman.

I agree with teechar.

 

[ademoglu]

But why? I cannot see the difference between the two. Could you please enlighten me as to it? Do you mean that it is wrong because of the second 'don't?

- I do not drink the alcohol or (don't) know most of the guests at his lavish parties.
- I do not drink the alcohol or know most of the guests at his lavish parties.

 

[Raymott]

Your sentences are wrong (with or without the "don't"). Look at teechar's examples again.
There's no "the" before alcohol. If you mean you don't drink alcohol at all, it's "I don't drink alcohol."
You can't say "I don't do X or don't do Y", if you mean you do neither.

The example from the dictionary is about directly related things. There are two chores that Sonia does not do.
You can say, "I don't drink alcohol or eat pork." There is some relation here.
You can't say naturally, "I don't drink alcohol or know the people here." These are unrelated.
However, some examples might be in between related and not related.

 

[ademoglu]

I do not drink alcohol, nor do I know most of the guests at his lavish parties.

Thanks for all the answers. In the end, I have understood the difference. However, I see you use ''nor'' in that sentence. I would like to ask whether it is OK to use 'either' in that sentence or not.

- I do not either drink alcohol or know most of the guests at his lavish parties.

I think the sentence is grammatically OK.

Thanks again!

 

[Raymott]

No that's not natural. Now your sentence means, "I do not either i) drink alcohol, or ii) know most of the guests." This could mean that one thing you do and the other you don't. But you want to say that you do neither.
"I don't do either X or Y" is ambiguous. It could mean that you do neither, or it could mean that you do either X or Y, but not both.
However, "I neither drink alcohol nor know the guests" is not ambiguous.