Either or Neither?
This week’s question is from Elena, and she wrote:
"What's the difference between either and neither?"
The use of either and neither is confusing, and not just for English learners, but for native speakers as well. So what's the correct way to use them? Let's find out.
Either
We use either to mean 'this one or that one' when we are comparing things. For example,
"You can borrow either book."
"I don’t speak either French or Portuguese."
"You can either come with me now or walk home."
Neither
We use neither to mean 'not this one and also not that one' when we are comparing things. But because neither has a negative meaning already, it can’t be used with another negative in the same sentence.
So, we can’t say: “He doesn’t smoke and he doesn’t drink neither.”
We would need to say:
“He neither smokes nor drinks.” (formal)
Or,
“He doesn’t smoke and he doesn’t drink either.” (more common)
Keep in mind, if it's in a new sentence, then neither can be used. To understand this better, let’s look at this example:
“He doesn’t smoke. Neither does he drink.”
We can use neither in the second sentence, because it’s a new sentence and it doesn’t include any negatives.
Structures with neither are quite formal and are less common in spoken English.
Let’s look at some examples in both structures:
“The book was neither well written nor well designed.”
“She neither smiled, nor looked at me.”
In spoken English, we would use these structures instead:
“The book wasn’t well written, and it wasn’t well designed either.”
“She didn’t smile. She didn’t look at me either.”
I hope this clears up any confusion! If you have any questions, let me know.