In the following sentence, is "neither of us" a singular or plural construct?
don't forget, despite how it feels, neither of us is here.
After all, "neither of us" is more akin to "no one here" than it is to "we", as it denotes a negative, rather than a plural phrase.
Just going by the sound of the resulting sentences, it seems that either "is" or "are" works equally well, but (for some ungodly reason) I prefer the singular in this context.
I prefer the singular in this context.
I would too.
After all, "neither of us" is more akin to "no one here" than it is to "we", as it denotes a negative, rather than a plural phrase.
I would not call it akin to "no one is here". Just because I'm not here and you're not here, that doesn't mean that Fred isn't here.
"neither of us is here" is short hand for "I am not here." and "He/she is not here."
I would not call it akin to "no one is here". Just because I'm not here and you're not here, that doesn't mean that Fred isn't here.
"neither of us is here" is short hand for "I am not here." and "He/she is not here."
Still, zero people is hardly a plural construct (though why it counts as a singular one is also questionable). Maybe that's why the sentences seems to work in either case.
Still, zero people is hardly a plural construct (though why it counts as a singular one is also questionable).
Because people were/are to lazy to come up with a separate grammatical number case for zero?
Because people were/are to lazy to come up with a separate grammatical number case for zero?
Actually, no numeric nouns automatically defer to the singular, as plural verbs are only required for plural nouns/pronouns/amateur-nouns.
Thanks, everyone, for the rapid and insightful answers.
This is from Merriam-Webster:
Is it 'neither is' or 'neither are'?
Neither is usually used with a singular verb, as in "Neither one is here." But sometimes, especially when a prepositional phrase with a plural in it comes between neither and the verb, a plural verb is used, as in "Neither of those are going to work."
So since "us" is plural, I guess it's "are." I didn't give your exact example to my wife. I guess mine didn't have the plural in the prepositional phrase.
Do you think readers appreciate how much we anguish over grammar?
Do you think readers appreciate how much we anguish over grammar?
Absolutely not, though hopefully, it's because we anguish so much that our readers don't notice!
Of course, now I'm wondering about all those American vs. British ngram cases.
don't forget, despite how it feels, neither of us is here.
To my ear, it's "is" but I checked with my wife, the former English teacher.
It is "is." When I asked why, she was sort of stumped and then said "of us" is a prepositional phrase that doesn't have to be there so the verb is based on the singular "neither."
t is "is." When I asked why, she was sort of stumped and then said "of us" is a prepositional phrase that doesn't have to be there so the verb is based on the singular "neither."
That's a much better explanation than my weak 'it just sounds better' argument.
Deja vu!
I would ask what we decided last time, but we probably didn't actually decide.
ETA - here is what ngrams thinks - possibly. Google seems to have poisoned it for my version of Chrome.
AJ
ETA - here is what ngrams thinks - possibly.
Thanks, I never even considered nGrams in this instance, though tweaking your results, the vast majority of the "are" instances are from British authors, who've slowly succumbed to our slovenly American English constructs. ;)
I would write that as ... neither of us are here ... because neither is the focus and it's plural.
By the laws of grammar, "neither" is singular.
There have been a fair number of languages with verbs which not only have singular and plural forms but forms for two. I don't know of any with forms for zero.
In the following sentence, is "neither of us" a singular or plural construct?
I think the only answer to this question is, YES.
It is one of those awkward phrases which can be both and given that writing should be about communication and not about grammatical exactitude, I would not care either way. Whichever way you writie it, it will be understood.
