To begin, you’ll need to understand the essentials of parallelism. Two (or more) things in a list have to be both structural and logically parallel. Let’s start with the positive form: either/or.
I will either clean the bathroom or walk the dog.
Parallel Element 1: Clean the bathroom
Parallel Element 2: Walk the dog
Both are actions that I might do. The word “either,” generally speaking, is optional. If you remove it, the sentence still makes sense.
I will clean the bathroom or walk the dog.
Sometimes you’ll need to keep it around because otherwise it’s unclear what the two things being listed are, but that’s not what we’re getting into today. Instead, let’s see what happens when we use the negative form: neither/nor.
I will neither clean the bathroom nor walk the dog.
Parallel Element 1: Clean the bathroom
Parallel Element 2: Walk the dog
Same parallel elements, different meaning. It is clear that neither of these actions will occur if I have my way. That clarity disappears as soon as you remove the word “neither” from the sentence.
I will clean the bathroom nor walk the dog.
This meaning is ridiculous. There’s no way to know what I meant to say – it’s that bad. So in this case, “neither” is necessary, but why? The simple answer is that “neither” introduces a negative. Without it, I’m saying “I will…” when what I really mean is “I will not…” That’s why “either” is often optional while “neither” is often not.
But “neither” is not always needed. Sometimes you can clarify within the verb itself that we’re discussing negative actions. Let’s try to change our previous sentence to accommodate this. You would change the first parallel element to:
I will not clean the bathroom…
This is clearly negative, even without the neither. I just substituted the word “not.” But it’s not quite that easy. If you bring back the second parallel element, unaltered, look what results:
I will not clean the bathroom nor walk the dog.
This may or may not sound right to you – make sure you’re making note of what issues you’re able to catch by ear and what issues require you to rely on the rules – but it is wrong. Let’s pinpoint why.
With only a hasty glance, you could break up the parallelism like so:
I will not…
1. clean the bathroom
2. walk the dog
The two items are parallel, both are things I will not do, but you’ve neglected the “nor.” Just as neither does, nor negates the clause it’s referring to. So a more accurate breakdown would be:
I will not…
1. clean the bathroom
2. not walk the dog
You’ve accidentally created a double negative. The meaning of this sentence is closest to “I will not clean the bathroom or I will walk the dog.” That’s not at all what I meant. In order to fix this sentence, we’ll have to be incredibly clear about what I will and won’t do. Try this form:
I will not clean the bathroom, nor will I walk the dog.
By repeating the verb “I will,” I allowed myself to clearly express the negative form “I will not” for both elements. It’s wordy, but correct. Try to combine these sentences both with and without “neither.”
- I do not like apples. I do not like pears.
- I cannot swim. I cannot fly.
- Magazines are not novels. Magazines are not stories.
- The drink is not soda. The drink is not tea.
I do not like apples. I do not like pears.
- I like neither apples nor pears.
- I do not like apples, nor do I like pears.
I cannot swim. I cannot fly.
- I can neither swim nor fly.
- I cannot swim, nor can I fly.
Magazines are not novels. Magazines are not stories.
- Magazines are neither novels nor stories.
- Magazines are not novels, nor are they stories.
The drink is not soda. The drink is not tea.
- The drink is neither soda nor tea.
- The drink is not soda nor is it tea.
In every case, you have to repeat the verb in both parallel elements in order to omit “neither.” You would be incorrect to simply pair nouns (The drink is not soda nor tea).
In sum, “neither” is not essential, but is entirely dependent on whether you are correctly negating each of the things on your list. The trap is an accidental double-negative. It is not…nor X should translate to It is not not X. Beware of this and brush up on parallelism.
