Morning! I don't have a problem understanding or using the either/or and neither/nor applications, but I become muddled when it comes to a sentence like the following... He couldn't forget the words from his dream nor/or the feeling of a dread presence in the room. Personally, I'd use nor, but I don't know which is correct. Anyone? TIA, Beth.
Saying that he could not forget either is the same as saying that he could forget neither, therefore: He could forget neither the words from his dream nor the feeling of a dread presence in the room. The not/either is implied, you don't have to have it explicitly stated in order to follow the rule.
Thank you, IllustratedMan, you've just solved what for me was a 'Tylenol situation'! Blessings, Beth.
Hi, Actually in my opinion in the sentence you provided, both or and nor would be perfectly fine. You haven't specified either or neither, and neither one is implied. So for your sentence you could be saying "He could not forget either the etc -" or "He could forget neither the etc -." Cheers, Greg.
I would agree. It is the act of forgetting which is central. Forget means - to be unable to remember. To say that you could not be unable to remember has too many negatives so I would go with - he could forget... That being the case, neither...nor would be the correct usage imo as you are stating a negative correlation not a replacement.
I'm not an expert on grammar and this might be wrong but... I believe nor should be used immediately after a comma not before. EXAMPLE: "I was not worried about my car breaking down, nor the tow bill if it did. :S
