neither

«neither» in Mova's school dictionary: not this one and not that one, of two — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

determiner, pronoun (neither); conjunction (neither ... nor); adverb (neither — also not)

meaning for a pupil

1) Neither means not this one and not that one, of two. If neither cat is black, both cats are another colour. tree →

2) «Neither ... nor» joins two things that are both not true: «neither tea nor milk». tree →

3) «Me neither» or «neither do I» means I also do not. tree →

sense in the lessons

In school maths: used in logic and sorting problems (Venn diagrams): things that are in neither group, outside both circles. In everyday talk: «Which one? — Neither!», «I don't like spinach. — Me neither». Phrases: «neither ... nor», «neither of them», «me neither», «neither here nor there» (not important).

examples

• Neither Tom nor Ann has a red pen. tree →
• 5 pupils like neither tea nor milk. tree →
• Neither box holds more than 10 balls. tree →
• How many children play neither sport? tree →
• Neither of my brothers likes football. tree →
• «I can't swim.» «Me neither.» tree →
• In the Venn diagram, write the numbers in neither set outside the circles. tree →
• She was neither hungry nor tired. tree →

note

Say «NYE-ther» or «NEE-ther» — both are right. «Neither» takes a singular verb: «neither box is full». Use with «nor», not «or». Opposite of «both»; «either» means one or the other. Maths: points to the part outside both groups: total − (in first or second). Trap: forgetting the people who are in both groups when finding «neither».

In the corpora

• A bot has no body, so it is neither a boy nor a girl; a name and voice are design choices.
• The future of AI is probably neither all wonderful nor all terrible; it depends on the choices people make.
• Mediterranean tortoises hibernate, and owners guided by a vet keep them steady at about 5 degrees so they neither wake early nor freeze.
• Neither was the Otter.» — the Otter dived after the May-fly to eat it.
• Neither is playing with the Sea.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «neither» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.