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either, neither
2

either, neither

either, neither

(OP)
Kindly advise on the correct use of these words as adverbs.

RE: either, neither

As adverbs, they introduce the first alternative:

It is either big or small.
I speak neither Spanish nor Italian.

RE: either, neither

(OP)
If I say, for example, they are not cheap either. Have I constructed the phrase correctly ?

RE: either, neither

That is a correct use of the word. A variation of SomptingGuy's example would be "I don't speak Spanish. I don't speak Italian either". There needs to be some kind of alternative somewhere in the preceding text/conversation, but the alternative could have come from another person  e.g. "You don't speak Spanish" "I don't speak Italian either", or much earlier in the text e.g. "The waiter discovered I don't speak Spanish so he recited the specials to me in Italian. It didn't help him because I don't speak Italian either."

I can't think of examples when neither would be used other than as SomptingGuy suggested: "It is neither cheap nor [suitable for the task in hand] [what we want] [whatever alternative you are in agreement with in your example]"

Hope this helps

RE: either, neither

(OP)
SomptingGuy, aren't the words in your examples, conjunctions rather than adverbs ?

Examples where they seem to be adverbs.

He would either fight or resign.
He either obeys or leaves.
He was able neither to think nor to speak.
He was not permitted to leave the land, so neither was his offspring.

Would you, please, comment ?

RE: either, neither

"Either...or" and "neither...nor" are correlative conjunctions, not adverbs.  In the examples given by 25362 they do not describe an action but rather they link two words together, such as "fight" and "resign".

The words "or" and "nor" used alone are called coordinating conjunctions, again not because they describe something but rather because they link words or parts of a sentence together.  That is what a conjunction does.

Note that "nor" is a negative word so you do not use it with a negative already in a sentence.  If you do then you have a double negative, and that's a no-no.

I have neither.
-or-
I do not have either.

But not:
I don't have neither.

http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/writcent/hypergrammar/conjunct.html

RE: either, neither

"They are not cheap either" is a proper construction. You could also construct it "Neither are they cheap."

--------------------
Bring back the HP-15
www.hp15c.org
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RE: either, neither

UcfSE,
Unless I'm wrong, I think you meant to say that 'neither' is a negative and should not be used in a sentence with another negative.  'Nor' is different.

For example:
It is not correct to say that five is a smaller number than one, nor is it correct to say that five is a bigger number than ten.

Although your example is correct, and the rule usually applies, sometimes a double negative can be correctly used in English.

For example:
The janitor did not say that I was not allowed to climb on the school roof.

RE: either, neither

A common mistake is to use 'or' with 'neither'.  You should use nor with neither, and or with either.

It is either A or B.  It is neither A nor B.

But not - It is neither A or B.

Good Luck
--------------
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

RE: either, neither

The double negative rule applies to adverbs I do believe.  The correlative conjunction "neither...nor" is after all two negative words but they are properly used together.  At any rate it appears you're right, I was thinking one thing and typed another. Thanks

RE: either, neither

Aside from neither-nor, another common usage is:

I do not think 2+2=5.
Neither does my calculator.

RE: either, neither

you use either before a singular noun to mean 'one or the other'
you use neither before a singular noun to mean 'not one but the other'

Naresuan University
Phitsanulok
Thailand

RE: either, neither

NO, neither before a singular noun means "not one and not the other".

Hg

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